European Commission calls for mandated age assurance for social media

The European Commission’s special panel on child safety online has published its final report.

Convened to study how kids’ use of online platforms affects their health and wellbeing, and to gauge how best to approach regulation, the panel met three times between March and June 2026. Its 150-page report weighs the positives and negatives of introducing age restrictions and biometric age assurance tools for social media and other digital services, and includes 14 policy recommendations for EU leaders.

“This report comes during a unique window of opportunity,” says Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. “We have heard from parents, educators, experts and young people themselves. We have heard the experience from partners as well as our Member States. Now we need action at European level.”

Recommended action applies to a variety of issues, and the formal list that concludes the report prioritizes agency and empowerment for kids.

“Children and adolescents should have meaningful opportunities to actively shape legislation, policies, and educational initiatives promoting child safety and empowerment online,” says recommendation number one. “Children should be included in the co-design of safety policies, training programmes, evaluations and guidelines.

Number two is related: “strengthen complaint and reporting mechanisms and consumer rights for children and adolescents.” Indeed, the full list leans heavily into digital literacy and education. “Mainstream digital education and literacy actions for minors, parents and caregivers, teachers and educators,” the panel says. “Support teachers’ training to include digital and media literacy and involve parents.”

‘Supervisory authorities should intensify cooperation’

That said, there is also a list of (non-numbered) recommendations aimed at social media firms, focused on regulation. Top among them is a call to propose “a harmonised EU-wide access restriction to social media and other digital services for children under 13,” and to “introduce effective age assurance systems to check age and underpin safety-by-design and age-appropriate approaches to protect and empower minors online.”

“Age-assurance methods – both age verification or age estimation – must be proportionate and uphold minimum requirements, notably concerning the fundamental rights of users, including children’s rights and related safeguards,” it says. “Any method employed to check age should uphold the highest privacy and data protection standards, and should not lead to the processing of identity documents and biometric data for the purpose of age estimation.” It references zero knowledge proofs (ZKP) as an example of privacy-preserving tech that can be leveraged for age checks.

Perhaps the most critical recommendation of the lot is a call to strengthen enforcement and evaluation capacities around existing laws. “Given the multiple rules now applying to child safety online (the DSA, GDPR, AI Act, etc.), supervisory authorities should intensify cooperation and exchange information across legal frameworks,” the report says.

“The European Commission should explore mechanisms enabling seamless cooperation between supervisory authorities to leverage existing enforcement structures. Moreover, there is a need to assess whether additional resources and restructuring are needed for regulators responsible for enforcement and evaluation.”

Overall, the report serves as a thorough summary of the current state of the debate over age restrictions for social media. Laws exist, new ones are forthcoming, and awareness of the problem is growing. It recognizes that online safety is a shared responsibility and that equipping children to navigate the online world is essential. And it understands that, if social media firms are going to be made to play by the rules, a more robust enforcement regime must be put in place.

More than 60% of Europeans want age checks on social media

While much remains uncertain in the effort to rein in social media, one thing is decisively clear: people are worried. Results from a new Eurobarometer survey shows that “Europeans are overwhelmingly concerned about all the risks children face on social media.”

A release says cyberbullying tops the list of perceived risks children face online – a concern named by 71 percent of respondents. Nearly as worrying are fears of online grooming and sexual exploitation (70 percent), exposure to harmful content such as violence, self-harm or extremism (69 percent), and misuse of children’s personal data (also 69 percent). Sixty percent are concerned that kids are being exposed to addictive platform design.

A majority (63 percent) believes social media should have age minimums. By comparison, just 13 percent “prefer leaving oversight to parents and schools without further EU intervention.”

To reiterate: while the legislative details are still being hashed out, the public verdict is in. Data from the UK and U.S. has shown broad public support for age restrictions on large social platforms. The Eurobarometer shows the same trend in the EU. The world is beginning to see social media for what it is: at best, a vast ecosystem that has invited children in without caring what happens to them beyond the gate.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometric age estimation  |  EU age verification  |  European Commission  |  social media