EU experts to start work on social media ban for children

The commission did not state who was on the panel [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

An EU expert group is to launch work this week on whether to ban social media for children with the aim of coming up with recommconcludeations by the summer, Brussels declared Tuesday.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen will attconclude the consultative panel’s inaugural meeting on Thursday, having launched the initiative in September, the European Commission declared.

Brussels is considering setting a minimum age to access social media after Australia in December required TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and other top sites to reshift accounts held by under-16s, or face heavy fines.

The EU panel will hold a series of meetings to then “advise the President and the commission as a whole on potential additional measures to put in place to protect our kids online,” declared commission spokesman Thomas Regnier.

The commission did not state who was on the panel.

Brussels is keeping a close eye on how successful the Australian ban proves, with legal challenges already filed against it.

France, along with Denmark, Greece and Spain, has been pushing for similar action at EU level.

Von der Leyen has advocated going further with a minimum age limit, but first wants to hear from experts on what approach the 27-nation bloc should take.

EU efforts to rein in the influence of huge tech firms, most of which are based in the United States, have angered the administration of President Donald Trump.

Published – March 04, 2026 12:32 pm IST

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