Sweden wants to ban social media for children under the age of 15
The proposal was drawn up following several months of research into the impact of social media platforms on children and teenagers. Sweden’s Minister for Social Affairs, Jakob Forsmed, warned that the country risks “losing an entire generation to endless scrolling”, according to Reuters.
The restrictions will apply to registered users of social media. However, video games with communication features, such as Roblox, will not be covered by the new rules.
Sweden is far from the first country to take action on children’s social media accounts.
Australia was the first country in the world to take such a radical step. At the end of 2025, a law came into force there that effectively bans children under 16 from using most popular platforms. The restrictions apply to TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, Twitch and a number of other services.
In France, parliament has already backed a bill to ban social media for children under 15. President Emmanuel Macron is actively promoting this idea and calling for a unified approach across the European Union.
Similar measures are being prepared in other countries, including:
- Denmark plans to ban social media for children under 15.
- Austria is preparing a ban for children under 14.
- Portugal has already approved a bill allowing the use of social media by children aged 13 to 16 only with parental consent.
- Greece advocates a complete ban on social media for children under 15 and is pushing for uniform rules at EU level.
- In Spain, the authorities are discussing raising the minimum age to 16.
- In Germany, discussions are also ongoing regarding a possible restriction on children’s access to social media.
Against this backdrop, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has stated that the EU could introduce its own age restriction mechanism for social media as early as this year. At the same time, Brussels is developing a unified system for verifying users’ ages, which will allow platforms to determine age without sharing personal data.
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