Which European countries are banning children from social media?

While the age of social media may not yet be over, the age of people allowed to use it is being restricted in various countries, as governments introduce – or at least consider – the banning of children from accessing social platforms.

Assessing the increasing evidence from studies, experts have pronounced with ever-growing confidence that social media can have negative effects on young minds – and media coverage leads to public pressure on politicians.

Pressure has increased since a high-profile US court case in March 2026 handed down an unprecedented win for a young woman who sued Meta and YouTube over her childhood addiction to social media.

Already in December 2025, Australia had become the first country to introduce a social media ban for under-16s, insisting that platforms like Meta's Instagram and Facebook, Alphabet's YouTube and Elon Musk's X implement age verification measures – or face penalties. 

But what's the state of play across Europe? Here we look at which countries have imposed legislation, which are considering it, and which leading politicians are talking about it. 

Information correct as of 17 Sep 2026.

European Commission

In September 2026, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a proposal to ban under-13s from social media and require online services to design safe children's accounts in Europe.

Von der Leyen said at a press conference, that the proposed EU Kids Act "will set clear boundaries in the digital world just as we do it on a daily basis in the real world".

Under the proposal, which must be negotiated with EU countries and the European Parliament before it can become law, accounts for children aged between 13 and 15 will be under parental control.

In November 2025 the EU Parliament agreed on a non-binding resolution calling for an EU-wide ban on access for children under 16 to online platforms, video-sharing sites and AI companions without parental consent and an outright ban for those younger than 13.

France

Strongly backed by President Emmanuel Macron, a bill to ban social media for under-15s is making its way through French legislation – although not without some arm-wrestling. 

In January 2026, the lower house National Assembly passed legislation demanding all social media platforms refuse new users under 15 and suspend accounts belonging to children under that age.

Authorities want the bill – which also provides for a ban on mobile phones in high schools – to be enforced from September 2026.

But the right-leaning Senate upper house, which adopted the bill in late March, did so with some reservations and attached several conditions through amendments to the text.

In July the bill was approved for a two-stage implementation, with under-15s blocked from creating new accounts from September 1 and existing accounts banned from January 2027. 

However, in August, France's top court blocked it, saying it infringed upon freedom of expression. Although September 1 still brought an extension of a ban on mobile phones to all French high schools, the social media ban has been reworked and submitted.

UK

In mid-June, the then UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would ban social media sites for under-16s and impose restrictions on gaming and live-streaming platforms, in a move that he said would go further than any other country.

Britain will introduce controls on gaming platforms and the possibility of overnight curfews and curbs on infinite scrolling for under-18s. YouTube, Facebook and X will be covered, the government said, but messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal will not be.

A ban could be in place next spring, Starmer said, underpinned by existing powers and new regulations due by the end of the year. Britain has increasingly toughened its approach to tech firms, urging or forcing them to adapt their algorithms and, most recently, prevent children from circulating nude images taken on mobile phones.

The ban will likely require age checks to be expanded to all users, something regulator Ofcom has already introduced for porn sites. 

"It is clear to me a full ban is the right choice," he said. "It will make a huge difference, it will make our children safer, it will make our children happier, it will give them more time, more security, more freedom to grow up, more opportunity".

Sweden

Sweden should introduce a minimum age of 15 for the use of social media, a government-appointed commission recommended on on June 2, 2026.

"The reasons for introducing an age limit nevertheless outweigh the benefits of continued free access to this type of media," Swedish investigator Lisa Englund Krafft told a news conference with Social Affairs and Public Health Minister Jakob Forssmed.

A ban can be formulated in a way that the platform companies would be responsible for the task of age verification, she said.

In Sweden, there is currently a limit of 13 years for when children must have parental consent to create accounts on social media.

Norway

In late April 2026, Norway said it will present a bill to ban social networks for under 16s, adding that technology companies will be responsible for verifying the age of its users.

"We are introducing this legislation because we want a childhood where children get to be children. Play, friendships, and everyday life must not be taken over by algorithms and screens," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said in a statement.

Türkiye

In late April 2026, Türkiye's parliament passed legislation banning the use of social media by children under 15 and introducing new rules for digital platforms, including game software companies. 

Digital platforms are required to take necessary age verification measures, while game software platforms are brought under the scope of the regulation. Platforms with a high number of users are required to appoint a representative in Türkiye, and game platforms must classify games based on users' age criteria.

Greece

In April 2026, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced that Greece will ban access to social media for children under the age of 15 from 1 January 2027 – citing rising anxiety, sleep problems and the addictive design of online platforms.

The announcement came two months after an opinion poll showed around 80% of respondents approved of a ban. The Greek government has already outlawed mobile phones in schools and set up parental control platforms to limit teenagers' screen time.

"Greece will be among the first countries to take such an initiative," Mitsotakis said in a video message, adding that he had spoken with parents before making the decision. "I am certain, however, that it will not be the last. Our goal is to push the European Union in this direction as well."

From 1 January 2027, platforms will need to be able to restrict users or face fines described in the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) reaching up to 6% of their global turnover, Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou said.

Greece's parliament will confirm the ban in mid-2026. 

Austria 

In March 2026, Austria announced it will soon ban social media for children up to the age of 14, saying it spawned addiction, glorified violence, spread misinformation and set unrealistic beauty standards. 

"It is almost impossible for parents to control their children's consumption" on these platforms, which are designed to make them "deliberately dependent," Vice-Chancellor Andreas Babler told a press conference. 

The conservative-led, three-party government said draft legislation for the ban would be finalized by June.

Babler said Austria will target platforms using "algorithms that create addiction, generate profits and have harmful effects".

Babler said children were "left to their own devices in a world where they are confronted, for example, with unrealistic beauty ideals, the glorification of violence, disinformation, and where they are also manipulated." 

The decision followed a three-week "no mobile phone" experiment, led by the education ministry and involving 72,000 pupils and their families. 

"The feedback we have is that this has been a kind of withdrawal experience for the pupils and that they are aware of the harmful effects of their excessive consumption," Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr told the news conference.

Germany

Although there is no active attempt to introduce legislation in Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in February 2026 that he is open to a social media ban for minors.

Merz said he is usually skeptical about prohibitions, but added that "I think the main focus must be on how to protect children at an age when they also need time to play, learn and concentrate at school".

Speaking on the podcast Machtwechsel, he said his government is considering "various ways of handling it in a more restrictive manner", including an age limit and forcing platforms to verify users' ages.

German minors aged 13-16 are allowed to use social media only if their parents provide consent, but child protection advocates say controls are insufficient.

Spain

In March 2026, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Spain will seek to ban social media for under-16s to protect them from harmful content such as pornography and violence.

"Platforms will be required to implement effective age verification systems—not just checkboxes, but real barriers that work," Sánchez told a summit in Dubai.

"Today, our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone: a space of addiction, abuse, pornography, manipulation, violence. We will no longer accept that."

The Socialist leader also pledged to change Spanish law to make the chief executives of tech platforms "face criminal liability for failing to remove illegal or hateful content."

Sánchez had broached a social media ban for under-16s in November 2025 but fleshed out his idea in a package of five measures which he aimed to get approved "starting next week." However, his coalition government lacks a parliamentary majority and often struggles to pass legislation.

Portugal

In February 2026, Portugal's parliament approved a bill requiring explicit parental consent for children aged 13 to 16 to access social media, with tech companies that ignore the restrictions facing fines of up to 2% of their global revenue.

"The digital age of majority for autonomous access to the platforms, services, games, and applications covered by this law is set at 16," said the bill. 

The law says adolescents aged 13 to 16 may access social networks only with parental consent, and that these platforms must implement an age verification and parental authorisation system compatible with the software used by the Portuguese administration. 

"Specialized literature and recent scientific data have shown that early use of these resources ... can compromise the normal social and cognitive development of children, proving increasingly addictive and harmful," said an introductory text. 

And elsewhere in Europe…

DENMARK said in November 2025 it would ban social media for children under 15, while parents could provide access to certain platforms to kids down to the age of 13.

ITALY: Children under the age of 14 need parental consent to sign up for social media accounts, while no consent is required above that age.

POLAND's ruling party is preparing new legislation to ban social media for children under 15 and to hold platforms responsible for age verification, it said on February 27.

SLOVENIA is drafting a law that would prohibit children under 15 from accessing social media, Deputy Prime Minister Matej Arcon said on February 6.