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 27 April 2026.

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.

France

Strongly backed by President Emmanuel Macron, a bill to ban social media for under-15s is making its way through French parliament – 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, which adopted the bill in late March, did so with some reservations and attached several conditions through amendments to the text, which could delay the bill being adopted by both houses.

A committee in the upper house has instead suggested a two-tier system, distinguishing between platforms flagged as harmful to a child's "physical, mental, or moral development", and those that could still be accessed with parental consent.

Their revised version of the bill excludes online encyclopedias and educational platforms.

UK

In March 2026 British MPs struck down proposals for a blanket ban on social media for children under 16, as the government backed a separate consultation on measures to protect young people online.

The ban was part of a bill which passed in the UK's upper house of parliament, known as the House of Lords, in January – but it subsequently failed to secure enough votes in the lower-chamber House of Commons after the government opposed it in favor of a consultation due in summer.

However, more than 100 of the 404 MPs belonging to the ruling Labour party abstained, as calls to restrict children's access to social media grow among politicians and the public. A December 2025 YouGov poll found 74% of Britons supported a ban.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has not ruled out a ban, and said the consultation will consider measures including age restrictions and banning addictive features like scrolling.

Social media bans, curfews and app time limits will be tested in the homes of 300 teenagers to gauge the impact on children's sleep, family life and schoolwork, the government said on March 24.

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.

Merz also voiced concern about the impact of social media on child development.

"If children today at age 14 have five hours or more of screen time a day, if their entire socialisation takes place only through this medium, then we shouldn't be surprised by personality deficits and problems in the social behavior of young people," he said.

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 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.

NORWAY's government in October 2024 proposed raising the age at which children can consent to the terms required to use social media to 15 from 13, although parents would still be permitted to sign off on their behalf if they are under the age limit. The government has also begun work on legislation to set an absolute minimum age limit of 15 for social media use.

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.

EU: The European Parliament in November agreed on a resolution, which is not legally binding calling, for a minimum age of 16 on social media.

It urged a harmonized EU digital age limit of 13 for social media access and an age limit of 13 for video-sharing services and "AI companions".