European Commission proposes ban on social media for children under 13
Proposal sets minimum independent account age at 15 and requires parental supervision for 13–15-year-olds
On 17 September 2026 the European Commission proposed a sweeping set of rules that would block children under 13 from accessing social media and require parental supervision for users aged 13 to 15 as part of new measures to strengthen online child safety.
Under the EU's proposed Law on Children, the minimum age to open an independent account would be 15, while parental oversight would be mandatory for those aged 13 to 15. The proposal aims to limit young people’s exposure to risks on digital platforms.
Banned features and scope
The new rules would apply not only to social networks but also to video-sharing platforms, online video games, AI assistants and chatbots that offer services to users under 18. The proposal prohibits functions that foster addiction, profiling-based recommendations that could steer minors toward harmful content, and "infinite scrolling" without natural stopping points.
The draft requires that minors’ profiles be set to private by default, and that geolocation, camera and microphone functions be disabled for underage accounts unless explicitly enabled under strict conditions.
Online services would also have to provide simple tools for blocking and muting other users, controls for managing time spent on the platform, and secure reporting systems that minors can control, modify and reset themselves.
The Commission’s proposal marks a broad effort to reshape how digital services interact with children across the EU, setting binding technical and design limits for platforms used by persons under 18.
Photo: press material from the event
