The European Union plans to implement a social media ban on users younger than 13-years-old, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday. File Photo by Ida Marie Odgaard/EPA
July 13 (UPI) -- The European Union plans to implement a social media ban on users younger than 13-years-old, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday.
The ban would still allow users younger than 13 to use social media with parental supervision. Von der Leyen presented an expert report on the harms of social media use on children that recommended the ban to limit time spent on the platforms.
"It is very clear that we need age-appropriate restrictions to platforms," von der Leyen said. "This is not about whether children can access social media. It is about whether and when social media can access our children."
The report, written by child psychiatrist Jorg Fegert and epidemiologist Dr. Maria Melchior, also recommends that social media use be limited to platforms that have certain features such as limits to infinite scrolling. They also recommend that children under the age of 3 have no screen time.
