Social media ban looming for Europe's children

Young Europeans should be banned from using social media, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said.

The leader of the European Union's executive branch told reporters the 27-nation bloc will draw up legislation to ensure children aged between 3 and 13 can only use social media for limited periods of time, and under the supervision of either parents, caregivers, or teachers. The new law, she said, will likely also prohibit children aged under 3 from having any screen time at all.

She made the comments after the arms-length Special Panel on Child Safety Online suggested the moves in a report, and recommended that European youths be granted more access to the online world as they grow older.

"It is clear we need age-appropriate restrictions to platforms," Reuters quoted Von der Leyen as saying in response to the report. "The question is no longer if children face risks online, but what can we do to give children a safer start online."

The panel said children aged 10 to 13 were "very vulnerable" to harmful social media content, especially around girls' body image. It added that young people are now spending between four and six hours a day in front of screens, and that almost 60 percent of children had experienced emotional or psychosocial problems online.

Von der Leyen said the European Commission will now respond to the panel's report by drawing up detailed draft legislation over the summer that lawmakers will get to discuss, amend, and vote on in the fall.

If lawmakers back the legislation, which is widely expected, the EU will join Australia, China, India, the United States, and the United Kingdom in having legislation in place or in development that restricts young people from accessing harmful online content.

Social media platforms have responded to the bans by saying they have introduced measures to protect young people, but critics have said the steps do not go far enough.

Von der Leyen said the EU will likely also restrict young people's access to other types of online content beyond social media sites "with age-inappropriate and addictive features".

"So, think of it as social media plus," she said, noting that young people who are older than 13 could also have their online access restricted, but that the details have not yet been ironed out.

"The status quo, a world where we continue to allow big tech unrestricted access to our children," cannot be left unchecked, she said, because it "will only consign another generation to more mental harm, addiction, and misery".

The Guardian newspaper noted that legislation to restrict young people's online access would likely be well supported among EU member nations, with at least 10 of the 27 having already announced plans for local prohibitions.

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