Brussels is moving towards a harmonised minimum age requirement to access social media. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen complimented Australia’s under-16 social media ban, signalling she wanted to follow its example.
Her remarks landed as the Parliament’s IMCO (Internal Market Committee) was gathering, discussing the drafting of an online child-protection report that bridges the Commission’s new DSA (Digital Services Act) guidelines with pressure for future provisions in the forthcoming DFA (Digital Fairness Act).
Von der Leyen eyes Australian model
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used a high-profile event at the UN General Assembly to push Europe closer to a common online age threshold. She complimented Australia’s under-16 ban as a “world-first, and world-leading social media ban” and admitted she has been “inspired by Australia’s example”.
We have begun the work of requiring effective age verification – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
Von der Leyen anchored that push in the same principle she set out in her State of the Union speech, “parents, not algorithms, should be raising our children”, aligning herself with capitals that want to draw a legal line for minors online. “Many Member States believe the time has come for a ‘digital majority age’… I share their view”.
Turning rhetoric into policy, “In Europe we have been taking steps already. We have begun the work of requiring effective age verification”, she said, pointing to the Commission’s age-verification blueprint launched in July. Built around the EU’s digital identity wallet, the prototype is already being piloted in France, Spain, Greece, Denmark and Italy. To guide the next steps, she promised to convene a panel of experts to test what would make sense at the EU level.
The digital wallet is EU’s favourite choice
From New York to Brussels, the debate was not only whether to check users’ age, but how to do so. The IMCO committee gathered to discuss minor online protection, and privacy concerns came up repeatedly. The Commission was clear that it does not want platforms scanning IDs. “Having platforms and social media platforms scan and upload government ID cards is not consistent with the guidelines,” Prabhat Agarwal from DG CONNECT said.
The EU digital wallet solution may be the only one that meets all of the criteria, including the privacy-preserving one – Prabhat Agarwal, DG Connect
Instead, Brussels is leaning toward the EU digital identity wallet. A check app that confirms if a user meets the required age without revealing any other personal data. The wallet returns a simple yes/no on age; nothing more. As Agarwal put it, “The EU digital wallet solution may be the only one that meets all of the criteria, including the privacy-preserving”. Making it work, he added, requires an app [and] infrastructure that can pass on these credentials to the platforms”. Which is precisely what the current pilot is testing. “We’ve seen five or six member states piloting this and integrating this into the national digital ID infrastructure”, he told MEPs.
Lawmakers are backing the tool, but want privacy guarantees. MEP Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew/FRA) called for an “anonymised” system by design, as children’s data “needs to be securitised.” MEP Kim van Sparrentak (Greens/NDL) went further. She called the wallet “a rather safe and privacy-friendly EU-wide age verification option” because “big tech doesn’t get to see who you are, how old you are, or where you’re from, but just gets a red or green light.” Her privacy red line runs both ways. Governments should also not see which websites people access with their ID.
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Parental control vs Brussels
Another controversial topic around the IMCO meeting was whether Brussels or families get to decide what children do online. Behind that sits a broader fear that a one-size-fits-all rule would flatten national traditions around parenting. For some MEPs, the answer starts at home. While others believe that the scale and design of platforms make it impossible for parents to control.
On the family-first side, ECR and Identity and Democracy want Brussels to equip parents, not replace them. “It is the parents that should decide, and the EU should not have the possibility to verify our identities on the internet said MEP Kosma Złotowski (ECR/POL). MEP Elisabeth Dieringer (ID/AUT) backed that line and added “parents should not be put into a second rank. That needs to remain the primary place, rather than through the state”.
It is the parents who should decide, and the EU should not have the possibility to verify our identities on the internet – MEP Kosma Złotowski (ECR/POL)
The EPP gives that view a policy form with parental consent, not a mere Brussels-set age. Spanish MEP Pablo Arias argued that minors should not be permitted to register on social media “under the age of 16 without parental consent”. Balancing state responsibility first with families, he claims this solution “balances children’s rights to participation and information with their safety. While acknowledging parental responsibility and empowering them to decide when their child is mature enough to access these services”.
By contrast, rapporteur MEP Christel Schaldemose (S&D/DNK) says parental tools alone can’t counter “strong big tech companies”. “It is very important that we use the tool of age verification”, adding that “it is not enough to leave it to parental control only”.
How old is “old enough”?
Brussels has not decided which number to enforce. It may end up uniform across the EU or left to national choice. In New York, Ms von der Leyen said Europe would “learn” from Australia’s approach of an under-16 ban.
Inside Parliament, MEP Schaldemose set a range. “It could be 13, as many platforms set, but it could also be 16,” and asked whether an EU limit would breach children’s rights. On the centre-right, Lithuanian MEP Paulius Saudargas went further, defending no registration under 16 at all, while Greek MEP Dimitris Tsiodras pointed to 15 as a practical benchmark.
The Commission did not talk numbers. Instead, it cautioned that sweeping bans, for example, blocking all platforms under 18, would likely clash with children’s rights to information, learning and play. It urged proportionality, with stricter age checks for porn and gambling sites than for mainstream social media; feature-level gating for addictive feeds, in-app purchases, and age assurance across cases, enforced with privacy-preserving methods.
What to expect from the DFA
The next step is the Digital Fairness Act. MEPs are explicit about using it to turn today’s guidance into binding rules. Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew/FRA) wants the DFA to “look at all of the interfaces and any possibility to exploit the vulnerability of our children through phoney interfaces” and to deliver EU-level rules so Member States don’t diverge. MEP Laura Ballarín (S&D/ESP) pushed the same link: “It’s important for this report to include a reference to the future Digital Fairness Act, so that we can address the dark patterns, the rabbit hole, and the role of influencers”.
The Commission is already sketching the scope. Officials told IMCO that “the protection of minors will be a transversal and key element”. In particular, they mentioned they are evaluating “whether certain functionalities should be disabled by default, or if parents should have greater control over certain features and websites, applications and products that are addressed to minors”.
They also respond to the Parliament’s main concerns. “Many references today to issues such as loot boxes and gambling-like features. These are indeed aspects we are looking at in the context of the DFA”.
What happens next
Meanwhile, enforcement is not theoretical. The Commission has opened cases against Pornhub, Stripchat and XVideos over minors’ access to porn, and moved against TikTok Lite for addictive design. The Commission says national Digital Services Coordinators have committed to enforcement of minors’ guidelines, including against smaller platforms, and have promised a progress review within a year.
IMCO will vote on the report on “Protection of minors online” on 16 October. If it receives a majority, Parliament will hand the Commission a strong political signal as it drafts the Digital Fairness Act.
