The European Parliament on Wednesday called for a Europe-wide minimum threshold of 16 for minors to access social media without their parents’ consent. Parliament members also want the EU to hold tech CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk personally liable should their platforms consistently violate the EU’s provisions on protecting minors online — a suggested provision that was added by Hungarian social-democrat member Dóra Dávid, who previously worked for Meta. The call for tougher rules on social media comes as several EU countries prepare more restrictions on social media for kids, following concerns about the effects on mental health and development of platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and others. Australia is in the process of implementing an age limit of 16 for users of social media accounts. The European Parliament backed an age limit in its report on how to better protect minors online, with 483 members voting in favor, 92 against and 86 abstaining. The report called on the European Commission to ensure that laws and measures on age checks are consistent across the bloc. Several countries are rushing to develop their own national checks. The bulk of the votes against and abstentions came from political groups on the right, who have argued that the report goes too far into EU countries’ competencies. The report was led by Danish social-democrat Christel Schaldemose, who also led Parliament’s work on the Digital Services Act, the EU’s content moderation regulation. The report could influence upcoming negotiations on EU law. The Commission is set to propose two legislative acts that will include heavy chunks on minor protections next year: the review of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and a new Digital Fairness Act.

BRUSSELS — Ursula von der Leyen is so set on getting her grandkids off social media she forgot to do her homework. The European Commission chief made waves in recent weeks when she came out in favor of a European Union minimum age for using social media — twice. Citing strong pressure from EU capitals for a “digital majority” age, von der Leyen said at an event in New York that “as a mother of seven children, and grandmother of five, I share their view.” “We all agree that young people should reach a certain age before they smoke, drink or access adult content. The same can be said for social media,” she said. But von der Leyen has so far overlooked a simple fact: It’s up to national governments, not the EU, to set age restrictions for alcohol and tobacco. The Commission can coordinate rules about health but cannot harmonize them, according to the legal treaties of the bloc. “There is a significant question of whether [banning social media] is even something that the European Union has the power to do,” said Peter Craddock, partner at Keller & Heckman law firm in Brussels. Craddock currently offers legal services to social media companies. Von der Leyen said in her annual State of the Union speech that she will task a panel of experts to study whether to implement a social media ban and how to do it.   There’s a lot to figure out, such as how much “autonomy” to give EU countries and whether they should be allowed to set their own age, whether “it’s a full ban or a partial ban for certain functionalities or certain types of interactions,” Craddock said. Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier in June said that an EU-wide ban “is not what the European Commission is doing. It’s not where we are heading to. Why? Because this is the prerogative of our member states.” For many, that hasn’t changed. “Currently, we don’t see any legal basis for a harmonized social media ban for children at EU level,” said Fabiola Bas Palomares, lead policy and advocacy officer at Eurochild, a children’s rights group. MANY LAWS, NO SOLUTIONS The EU’s flagship privacy regulation, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), was one legal route the Commission previously suggested as a possible avenue. The GDPR sets the age of 13 as the lowest possible age when minors can consent to their personal data being processed — something that happens on all social media platforms. But the law allows for different countries to raise the bar. But experts have pointed out this doesn’t really work as an instrument to impose a digital majority age.   The GDPR sets the age of 13 as the lowest possible age when minors can consent to their personal data being processed — something that happens on all social media platforms. | Nicolas Guyonnet/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images Craddock pointed out that a country can end up in a situation where laws on processing personal data are “less permissive” than access to social media, or vice versa. “Then you have to be able to justify that,” he said. The GDPR still shows that EU legislators “were able to at least have a range” of ages for restrictions, said Urs Buscke, senior legal policy officer at umbrella consumer organization BEUC. She said this is where things could go for social media restrictions too. Another legal avenue is a revision of the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive, a law that applies to video-sharing platforms — which effectively covers most social media. The law will be reviewed next year and stronger protections for minors are on the table.  But, in EU speak, that law is a directive and not a regulation, meaning countries have a lot of leeway in how to apply it. It is also focused on keeping kids away from adult content, not off social media altogether, said Bas Palomares. There are guidelines under the Digital Services Act, but those guidelines are non-binding and help platforms comply with the EU’s landmark online safety law. Released this summer, the latest version still leaves age restrictions up to EU countries. The guidelines are reviewed annually, so the Commission could look to tighten the screws on platforms next year. But Regnier stressed last week that the Digital Services Act “is not the legal basis that will allow us to set the minimum age” for social media. There’s also the Digital Fairness Act, an upcoming revamp of consumer law, which will include provisions on protecting vulnerable consumers, including minors. Buscke, who specializes in consumer law, said this is unlikely to include a social media ban. Craddock said it’s too late to tack a social media ban onto that revamp as consultations are already ongoing and such a measure would require large-scale studies. CAN THEY, SHOULD THEY? Warnings about the health dangers of kids’ addictions to social media have piled up — from the EU’s top leadership and governments all the way to health authorities and tech regulators. But despite the momentum, some experts doubt an outright ban is the right way to go. Bas Palomares said a ban is incongruous with children’s rights to “protection, information, education, freedom of expression, play” which are “substantially enabled” by social media. “A social media ban would mean a disproportionate restriction of children’s rights and perhaps push them toward situations of greater risk and lower supervision,” she said. “Before resorting to arbitrary age restrictions, the EU should focus on leveraging and complementing the tools we already have.”

Swedish music streaming company Spotify announced that its longtime Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek will step down at the end of this year. Ek will take on the role of executive chairman from January onward. The company’s current two co-presidents, Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström, will take the helm as co-CEOs of one of Europe’s strongest technology brands. Ek co-founded Spotify and grew the company into a cultural behemoth with more than 696 million users and 276 million subscribers worldwide. As one of Europe’s most highly valued tech companies, Spotify has also turned into a politically relevant player at the EU level. It led a charge against Apple by filing a complaint against the U.S. firm’s alleged misuse of its dominant position in distributing music streaming apps through its App Store. This eventually led the Commission to impose a €1.8 billion fine on Apple in 2024. Ek regularly weighed in personally on how Brussels handled antitrust matters.

Ireland’s media regulator is turning up the heat on Elon Musk’s social media site X for not properly checking the age of users who can access porn. The country’s new Online Safety Code includes provisions on age assurance to keep minors away from harmful content, including pornographic and violent content. The code applies to video-sharing platforms X, Facebook and TikTok. These age-check provisions came into effect on July 21. “Based on an initial review of the X platform, we cannot see evidence of measures taken to comply with this age assurance requirement,” a spokesperson for Ireland’s media regulator Coimisiún na Meán told POLITICO in a statement. The regulator has “further concerns” of non-compliance, “including but not limited to” the “availability of parental controls.” The regulator asked X to provide information by July 25 and “will take further action where there is evidence of non-compliance with the Code,” the spokesperson said. The Coimisiún na Meán in June put pressure on X to comply with the code, sending the platform a statutory information request to describe its compliance measures. X has a deadline to respond by Aug. 8, which was extended from July 22. The platform risks being charged with a crime and fined up to €500,000 should it fail to respond by the deadline. Musk’s platform is also challenging the code before Ireland’s High Court, including certain provisions contained within it and its application to X. A decision on that challenge is expected on Friday, July 25. Ireland’s new media law is a national implementation of the European Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). Companies with their EU headquarters in Ireland have to follow Irish rules. X did not reply to a request for comment in time for publication. An X spokesperson said earlier that the company is “fully committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations,” including Ireland’s code, and is “prioritizing its implementation.” The French government is considering classifying X, Bluesky and Reddit as porn platforms, which would mean they have to follow stricter age verification requirements.