European Parliament in favor of a minimum age for social media use

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) want teenagers under the age of 16 to be banned from using social media without their parents’ permission. Children younger than 13 shouldn’t be allowed to use social media platforms at all. Furthermore, the EU should impose bans on the most harmful addictive practices.

MEPs have grave concerns over physical and mental health risks to minors who spend a great deal of their time online. Studies have shown that one in four teenagers displays “problematic” or “dysfunctional” smartphone use, mimicking patterns of addiction.

According to the 2025 Eurobarometer, over 90% of Europeans believe action to protect children online is a matter of urgency, not least in relation to social media’s negative impact on mental health (93%), cyberbullying (92%), and the need for effective ways to restrict access to age-inappropriate content (92%).

To help parents manage their children’s screen time and online presence, the European Parliament proposed to implement a EU-wide minimum age of 16 years before they can access social media, video-sharing platforms, and AI companions. Minors between the ages of 13 and 16 should be allowed to access the online services, but only with parental consent.

In addition, the European Parliament is calling for a ban on the most harmful addictive practices for minors, such as infinite scrolling, autoplay features, and dark patterns. Also, recommendation systems should be banned for minors, just as loot boxes and other randomized gaming features, like in-game currencies and pay-to-progress.

Furthermore, kids should be protected from commercial exploitation, such as kidfluencing, and the dangers of generative AI tools, including deepfakes, companionship chatbots, and AI-powered nudity apps.

On Wednesday, a majority of the MEPs voted in favor of adopting a non-legislative report expressing concerns over the physical and mental health risks that minors face and ways to protect them against manipulative strategies.

483 MEPs voted in favor of the report, 92 MEPs voted against, and 86 MEPs abstained from voting.

“I am proud of this parliament, that we can stand together in protecting minors online. Together with strong, consistent enforcement of the Digital Services Act, these measures will dramatically raise the level of protection for children. We are finally drawing a line. We are saying clearly to platforms: your services are not designed for children. And the experiment ends here,” rapporteur Christel Schaldemose said in a statement.