{"id":459754,"date":"2026-07-13T15:58:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T13:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/07\/13\/von-der-leyen-presenteremo-dopo-lestate-una-proposta-sullaccesso-dei-minori-ai-social\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T16:27:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:27:52","slug":"von-der-leyen-we-will-present-a-proposal-on-childrens-access-to-social-media-after-the-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/07\/13\/von-der-leyen-we-will-present-a-proposal-on-childrens-access-to-social-media-after-the-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"Von der Leyen: “We will present a proposal on children\u2019s access to social media after the summer”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 Protecting \u201cour children online\u201d and \u201cestablishing a new normal in the digital world of the future.\u201d These are the priorities of the new report \u201cProtecting and empowering minors in a digital world<\/a>\u201d, presented today (13 July) by the Special panel on child safety online<\/a>, a group of experts set up by the European Commission with the aim of protecting children in the digital world, examining age limits for social media and drawing up new rules for online platforms. In part based on this document, the European Commission will present a proposal after the summer to restrict minors\u2019 access to social media. The announcement was made by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong>, during the press conference to present the report. <\/span>\u201cWe brought the expert group together precisely to gather evidence on the best approach to tackling the risks and harms. We will now carefully read the report and discuss it within the College<\/strong>, before presenting a proposal after the summer<\/strong>,\u201d she explained. Meanwhile, the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU emphasised that <\/span>\u201cstrengthening online safety is a priority\u201d for its work and that Dublin will host \u201ca conference on online safety for children and young people in September,\u201d so as to \u201crapidly advance work on the protection of children online.\u201d <\/p>\n

The tenant at the Berlaymont Building has reiterated<\/a> that \u201csocial media is not a toy\u201d and that it is therefore \u201cup to parents to decide when their children will get their first smartphone.\u201d However, within the EU there is already \u201cconsensus on the need to set a starting age for children\u2019s access to social media\u201d as the current status quo\u2014that is, \u201ca world in which we continue to allow big tech companies unlimited access to our children, will only serve to condemn yet another generation to further mental harm, addiction, and unhappiness,\u201d she noted. Von der Leyen also cited some figures: <\/span>\u201cAcross Europe, young people spend four to six hours a day in front of a screen,\u201d which amounts to <\/strong> \u201c20 years of their lives,<\/strong>\u201d and \u201calmost 60 per cent of children have experienced emotional and psychosocial problems online,\u201d including \u201cinsomnia, depression, anxiety, cyberbullying, and exposure to harmful content.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The president therefore raised three points. The first is that<\/strong> \u201cplatforms were the architects of these systems<\/strong>” and it is now up to them<\/strong> “to prove that their services do not cause harm<\/strong><\/span>.” In the EU, \u201c<\/span>anyone who develops a product is responsible for its safety,\u201d she added. \u201cCar manufacturers must make their vehicles safe,\u201d and the same principle \u201cmust apply to big tech companies,\u201d she emphasised. Certainly, we do not \u201cexpect children to design their own seatbelts\u201d or parents to \u201cinstall airbags at home.\u201d The second point is the \u201cneed for age-appropriate restrictions on platforms<\/strong>.\u201d Just as \u201cwe do not give our children the car keys before they have a driving licence, nor do we allow them to buy alcohol until they are of legal age, we must set a minimum age for legal access to social media,\u201d she explained. <\/p>\n

According to the director of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, and co-chair of the Panel, Maria Melchior<\/strong>, the the issue of online safety<\/a> “must be accompanied by the development of digital literacy among young people, their parents, and their teachers,” as, above all, “parents must be prepared to supervise and guide young people\u2019s access to digital services across different age groups,” she noted at a press conference. <\/p>\n

This brings us to the third point raised by von der Leyen. “Research shows that timing is crucial<\/strong>“, explained the President of the Berlaymont building. “We know that young children should not be exposed to screens and digital platforms<\/strong>, so no screens before the age of 3,” she said, adding that \u201cchildren should only use social media under the supervision of parents, guardians or teachers, and for a limited time.\u201d For this reason, \u201cI believe we need to consider a gradual approach to access for different age groups,\u201d because \u201cchildhood doesn\u2019t wait, and once it\u2019s gone, we can never get it back,\u201d she added. <\/span><\/p>\n

In this regard, Professor J\u00f6rg Fegert<\/strong>, Medical Director of the Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Ulm University Hospital (Germany), <\/strong>has <\/strong> recommended <\/strong><\/a>that <\/strong>children <\/span>be \u201conline only when accompanied by parents or teachers and for a limited period of time.\u201d Furthermore, \u201cwe should also support real-life activities for children and keep an eye on what images and videos children are viewing on social media.\u201d In addition, \u201cThe development of independence and autonomy is very important for teenagers, which is why, between the ages of 13 and 18, we want them to have increasingly independent access to what “social media plus” has to offer,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s report, the “social media plus” category includes <\/span><\/strong>digital service providers that feature addictive features or age-inappropriate content. <\/span><\/b><\/strong>For the executive, clearly defining this category helps to identify the systems where <\/span><\/span><\/strong>the risks to children are greatest. Therefore, the idea is not to limit regulation to traditional social media alone, but to include all services designed with algorithms or models that may be harmful to children\u2019s development. Once this category has been defined, the proposal is to <\/span>consider <\/span>gradual<\/strong>, phased access for different age groups<\/strong> rather than unrestricted,<\/span> indiscriminate access.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\n

In line with the trends outlined by von der Leyen, a new Eurobarometer survey <\/a>was also published today, showing that Europeans are extremely concerned about <\/span>the risks children face on social media. In particular, cyberbullying and harassment were cited by 71 per cent of respondents, closely followed by fears of online grooming and sexual exploitation (70 per cent), exposure to harmful content such as violence, self-harm or extremism (69 per cent), and the misuse of children\u2019s personal data (69 per cent). Furthermore, the vast majority of Europeans would like the EU to do more to protect children from online risks: almost two in three Europeans (63 per cent) want EU rules to restrict children\u2019s access to social media based on their age, either through a complete ban below a certain age threshold (36 per cent) or delayed access (27 per cent).<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new report from the special panel on child safety online includes new recommendations to protect children on the internet. These include the possibility of age-based, gradual access to social media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7908,"featured_media":459688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25710],"tags":[25815,31262,25871,26940,27893,27894,27368,34798,26132],"class_list":["post-459754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-net-tech-en","tag-law-on-digital-services-en","tag-facebook-en-2","tag-instagram-en","tag-meta-en","tag-minori-online","tag-platforms-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":459755,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459754\/revisions\/459755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}