In the wake of Australia’s under-16 social media ban, launched earlier this month, European countries are grappling with whether they should implement similar restrictions.
As of December 10, Australian children under 16 could no longer create or keep social media accounts on platforms such as Facebook, X, Threads, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, Reddit, and Google-owned YouTube.
If these platforms are found to violate the law, they could face stiff penalties of 50 million Australian dollars (€28 million).
So what are European nations doing to restrict social media for children online? We take a look at national measures that are either proposed or that are already in place across Europe.
In November, the Danish government said it had secured an agreement from all political parties to ban access to some social media sites for those under the age of 15.
The move is to “protect children and young people in the digital world,” from platforms that may expose them to harmful content or features, according to a November press release.
“Children and young people have their sleep disrupted, lose their peace and concentration, and experience increasing pressure from digital relationships where adults are not always present,” the statement read.
The measure would give parents the right to let their children access social media after they turn 13.
Caroline Stage, Denmark’s minister for digital affairs, told the Associated Press that lawmakers will likely take months to pass the relevant legislation for a ban.
Denmark has a national electronic ID system and plans to set up an age verification app, Stage said, but did not specify how a potential ban would be enforced.
The country also earmarked 160 million kroner (€21.4 million) for 14 child online safety initiatives.
Anne Le Hénanff, France’s minister of digital affairs, told French newspaper La Dépèche that her department wants to introduce a bill to restrict social media for those under the age of 15 in the first months of 2026.
The move comes after a French parliamentary commission released a report in September that recommended banning social media for children under 15 outright and suggested a digital curfew for those under 18.
The commission’s report was launched earlier this year after seven French families sued TikTok in 2024, accusing the platform of exposing their children to content that encourages suicide.
A potential ban is in line with what French President Emmanuel Macron has said in recent months, that if the European Union doesn’t pursue an EU-wide measure, his government will take action instead.
“The platforms can verify age, do it,” he wrote on X back in June.
In France, children under 15 years old already needexplicit parental consent to open a social media account. Parents can also request that their child’s account be closed.
A bill being studied by Spanish legislators suggests that children under 16 should not be able to access social networks, forums, communications platforms or “any virtual space that incorporates generative artificial intelligence (GenAI),” without explicit parental consent.
In “other cases,” the minimum age will be 14, the draft law states, in order to “prevent risks related to early exposure to inappropriate content, cyberbullying or the digital exploitation of personal data”. The law does not specify what these other cases could be.
Children between the ages of 16 and 18 would be able to access social media with their own consent.
If adopted, the law would also mandate app store providers to give parents the right to verify which apps their children want to download.
A recent pollfrom YouGov found that 79 percent of Spanish parents agree with an Australian-style age restriction for social media.
However, one in three respondents said that an age restriction would be difficult to enforce in Spain.
Last May, the Italian parliament introduced a bill that could impose social media restrictions on children younger than 15.
The law, which is being studied by the Italian Senate, also includes laws to restrict “kidfluencers” under the age of 15 on social media platforms.
The draft law also requires that platforms verify user age using a “mini portafoglio nazionale,” translated as a digital identity wallet, that is tied to the upcoming EU age-verification system.
Italy’s education minister Giuseppe Valditara told the Italian newspaper Il Foglio that the country should follow the Australian model.
Since November, Italy has also had an age-verification legislation in place for adult sites.
Restrictions in Italy could potentially come from a pending class action lawsuit similar to the French one, where a group of Italian families sued TikTok and the Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram.
The lawsuit alleges that more than 3.5 million children between the ages of seven and 14 use social media platforms despite being too young. The case is due to be heard in February.
One of the lawsuit’s aims is to compel technology companies to enforce stricter age verification practices to make sure that fewer children under 14 are able to get on their platforms, according to a statement from law firm Ambrosio e Commodo.
In September, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the UN General Assembly that the country is considering a social media ban similar to the Australian model.
“We are conducting the largest uncontrolled experiment ever on the minds of our children. We do not know what the consequences will be, but we are almost certain that they will not be positive,” local media quoted Mitsotakis as saying.
Greece has already banned smartphones from the classroom, which Mitsotakis said has had a transformational effect on children.
The government also launched a website last year that gives parents instructions for how to enable parental controls on iOS and Android mobile phones.
Greece’s Kids Wallet, a parental control tool that can restrict or block access to applications and online services, will reportedlybe used as an age verifier for younger people. The app gives parents the ability to restrict or block access to applications and online services.
The device that uses the wallet may store the identity of the minor and present it to the competent authentication authority.
There are no under-16 restrictionson social media in Germany - at least, not yet, according to the German Parliament.
The government said in November it had asked a committee to study whether a ban could be implemented in Germany, along with how social media impacts Germany’s teens more broadly. It will present a final report on it in the autumn of 2026.
If the German parliament goes ahead with a ban, it says it would prevent children from having social media accounts like Australia did, so children would still be able to access the sites without being logged in.
A petition calling for a legal minimum age of 16 for social media sites received over 34,000 signatures and is being examined by the government.