EU blocks Austria's under-14 social media ban for 12 months
- The European Commission has paused national social media bans for children for a year, starting with Austria's plan.
- Brussels wants one bloc-wide rule instead of different age limits in each country.
- Austria's vice-chancellor says protecting children cannot be postponed.
The European Commission has told EU member states to hold off on their own social media bans for children for the next 12 months, and Austria's plan to keep under-14s off the platforms is the first casualty.
Under EU rules, a member state must tell the Commission about a draft law so Brussels can check it does not clash with bloc-wide rules. Austria sent its proposal in July. Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said on Thursday that any national bill that overlaps with the coming EU-wide rules will now wait a year.
The reason, according to the Commission, is that a patchwork of different age limits across member states would split the bloc's single market and make life hard for the platforms, which would have to follow a different rule in each country. Brussels also fears governments will drag their feet on the EU-wide law if they already have their own rules at home.
What the EU-wide law proposes
In September the Commission put forward the EU Kids Act. It would stop platforms from letting under-13s use their services, and set 15 as the age at which minors can hold their own accounts, with access opened up gradually. The proposal still has to be negotiated by member states and the European Parliament, and the Commission hopes a deal can be reached in the next few months.
Regnier said the focus should now be on those talks and on enforcing the rules already in place.
Austria is not pleased. Vice-Chancellor Andreas Babler said he could not understand the pause, arguing that Vienna wanted to shield children from the harm social media companies cause daily, and that this could not be put off. Austria has said its law would take effect immediately once the 12 months are up.
The delay is not uniform. Greece's plan to bar under-15s from social media, due to start on 1 January 2027, is exempt because its review was completed before the EU-wide proposal was tabled. France is in a similar position, though the Commission has asked Paris to rework its law. Regnier would not say whether France would be stopped from bringing its law into force.
Decisions are still pending on proposals from Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia and Belgium.
What happens next
Negotiations on the EU Kids Act continue over the coming months. Until then, the Commission says it will keep using existing EU digital rules to protect children online.
