The European Union is months away from a final bill for a social media ban that is looking likely to be one of the strictest introduced thus far worldwide. On Monday, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen announced that an expert report was completed and that the governing body would now consider the findings in drafting a proposal, which she said would be revealed after the summer. The report’s recommendations are striking and involve phased access to social media that would ban access to children under 13. “A harmonised EU-wide access restriction to social media and other digital services, including AI companions, for children under 13 is necessary,” the report claims. The experts suggest that children under 3 years of age should not be exposed to any screens, and that from 3 to 13, time-limited access to age-appropriate social media should only be with parental consent or for educational purposes.
Ban will likely go beyond social media In a press briefing on Monday, Von der Leyen described the approach as “social media plus,” meaning that any proposed action is likely to go beyond just social media platforms, to enact age-specific bans across other corners of the internet as well. The EU doesn’t yet have a clear definition of which platforms would fall under the social media plus umbrella, but Von der Leyen said it would include platforms with age-inappropriate content and addictive features.
