The European Union will impose age-based restrictions for minors across social media platforms, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Monday. The decision coincides with the publication of a report by a panel of experts convened by von der Leyen last year to develop a “strong and practical” European approach to keep children safe online. The report recommended that minors under 13 years of age should only have “time-limited” access to social media with parental supervision. 

Monday’s announcement comes in the wake of a year-long push by EU institutions to deal with the mental and physical health risks social media pose to minors, with von der Leyen making the issue a top priority during her second term as commission president. It echoes a broader, continent-wide commitment to advocating for children’s safety online, with governments in Denmark, France, and Greece all similarly pushing for age restrictions at the national level. Additionally, non-EU countries, including Australia,  have passed comparable legislation in recent months. 

At present, social media platforms already limit access for users under the age of 13 because they cannot consent to the processing of their data, under EU privacy rules and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

“It is very clear that we need age-appropriate restrictions to platforms,” von der Leyen said during a press conference announcing the decision Monday. “This is not about whether children can access social media. It is about whether and when social media can access our children.” 

While von der Leyen declined to specify a minimum age, she expressed the EU’s intention to have a draft law prepared by early fall. However, referring to the panel’s report and their recommendations regarding internet use among minors, the commission president did express an interest in the suggested “staged approach” to internet use to reflect the children’s age group and expected maturity level, calling this “very convincing.” 

“This won’t be foolproof, and change takes time,” von der Leyen said. “Childhood is a period of extraordinary and delicate brain development, and during this stage, our children need time in the real world. Time to play, time to build friendships face-to-face, time to make mistakes. Time to shape their own identity before an algorithm shapes them instead.”

The panel also recommended that children not be exposed to screens under the age of three, and then gradually get introduced to social media and other technology with parental supervision. 

While at least ten EU member states have announced plans for social media bans—France, for example, has pledged to ban social media for under-15s, and Spain is exploring restrictions for under-16s—Estonia remains a lone voice against the measures. 

“Banning kids from social media won’t actually solve the problems, and kids will very quickly find a way to go around to still use social media,” Estonian Education Minister Kristina Kallas said back in April. Arguing for a focus on regulating platforms, she continued: “The way to approach this, to me, is not to make kids responsible for that harm [stemming from social media platforms], and start self-regulating. The responsibility is on the governments’ and on the corporations’ sides.”

The commission is now expected to turn the panel’s recommendations into a legislative proposal by early fall, after which the draft will be scrutinized and negotiated by the European Parliament and EU member states. The process is likely to revive difficult questions over age verification, privacy, enforcement, and the responsibilities of technology companies, meaning any EU-wide restrictions could still take considerable time to agree and implement.