EU Chief Proposes Social Media Ban Under 13
EU Chief Proposes Social Media Ban Under 13
The News
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed banning children under 13 from social media, online games and chatbots, in her annual address Wednesday.
Older children would not be exempt. Bloomberg reports the plan also restricts technology and artificial intelligence services for teens, and the Financial Times describes curbs on social media and chatbots reaching children under 15.
Von der Leyen called artificial intelligence the "second tipping point of our time" after climate change, according to the Financial Times.
What the Proposal Covers
Under 13 — a ban on access to social media, online games and chatbots.
Older children — restrictions rather than an outright ban on technology and AI services, with the Financial Times reporting limits extending to under-15s.
Timeline
Von der Leyen uses her annual address to propose the under-13 ban and the broader restrictions on technology and AI services for older children.
Bloomberg, the Financial Times and other outlets report the European Union is working to turn the proposal into policy.
Reactions
Von der Leyen made the case herself in the address, putting AI alongside climate change as a defining challenge — her "second tipping point of our time" line, reported by the Financial Times, is the argument for moving now rather than waiting for the technology to settle.
Coverage so far has focused on the scope of the plan rather than on pushback: Bloomberg frames it as the EU "working to" ban social media for under-13s, language that signals a proposal at the start of its journey, not a rule already in force.
What's Next
A Commission president's annual address sets the agenda; it does not make law. The proposal now has to be written into legislation and cleared by the EU's member states and Parliament before any age limit binds a single platform.
The open questions are the ones every age-verification plan runs into: how platforms would confirm a user's age, and how the under-13 line and the tighter teen restrictions would be enforced.
More
The plan lands on American companies as much as European ones — the social media platforms, game services and chatbots an EU age limit would cover are largely US-built, and the same under-13 debate is live in US statehouses and courts.
Poll
Should children under 13 be banned from social media?
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