European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the bloc will consider a “social media delay” for children via a legal proposal as soon as this summer.

Last September, von der Leyen used the annual state of the union speech to announce a special panel of experts would advise her on online child safety issues in a bid to amp up online child protection measures across the EU. Though the panel is only due to report recommendations this summer.

But in a speech in Copenhagen on Tuesday, the Commission president said legislation to age-gate social media platforms could land this summer, while stipulating that she wasn’t “pre-empting the panel’s findings”.

Still, if the Commission is preparing a legal proposal with a similar timeline to the experts’ recommendations it means that work is going on in parallel.

Von der Leyen’s special panel on online child safety – which only started its work in March – is also expected to provide recommendations on matters beyond social media age-gating, including AI, messaging services and online gaming.

Pressure from capitals

On the EU potentially moving faster on a social media ban, von der Leyen pointed out that capitals have been calling for “an assessment” on the need for a bloc-wide minimum age for social media. Countries including France, Spain, Denmark, Cyprus and Greece have been urging action to protect kids for months.

Von der Leyen noted that ten EU countries including Denmark – the host of the child-safety event where she made the remarks on Tuesday – are eyeing age-gating social media platforms nationally.

At the same time, she remained vague on the key detail of what digital majority age might be set at the EU-level – likely reflecting the fact that countries are not united on a single age, with some favouring 15 or younger and others 16-years-old for national social media limits.

An unambitious choice of age limit set at the EU-level could risk undermining national efforts to take a tougher line on social media.

Von der Leyen also pointed to a recent European Parliament report, which pushes for an EU-wide age limit of 16 for accessing social media, adding: “The question is not whether young people should have access to social media, the question is whether social media should have access to young people.”

France recently notified the Commission of its draft national rules to limit social media, starting the process of the EU’s executive checking compatibility with internal market rules.

(nl)