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The European Union is moving towards limiting children’s access to social media, and the Dutch government has backed the plan. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen outlined the plan in her annual State of the Union speech on Wednesday, with the full legislative proposal, the “EU Kids Act”, due to be presented on Thursday.
What is being proposed
The approach is tiered by age, or “gradual”, as von der Leyen put it: “Each age has its own sensitivities. And therefore, each will have its own tailored protection level.” Children under 13 would not be allowed on social media. Between 13 and 15, they would only be able to use “mini accounts”, supervised by a parent or guardian, with limited functions and time limits. For 15- to 18-year-olds, platforms would be required to provide a “safe design”.
The rules reach beyond the big social networks. According to draft details, they would also apply to video-sharing platforms, online games and AI chatbots, and would ban addictive design features such as infinite scrolling for children. Platforms that break the rules could face fines of up to 6 percent of their annual turnover. “It is not about our minors accessing social media,” von der Leyen said. “It is about when and how we allow social media to access minors.”
The Dutch role
The Netherlands has been among the countries pressing for this. The Dutch cabinet announced its backing for an EU-wide age limit days earlier, and State Secretary for Digital Economy and Sovereignty Willemijn Aerdts joined Spain in asking the Commission to act.
She emphasised acting at the European level. “We very much want to regulate this at the European level, rather than through national legislation,” Aerdts said. “That way, we can take a united approach instead of having 27 different sets of rules across the member states.” A large group of member states, including France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, are advancing or considering national measures, which is part of the pressure on Brussels to set a single standard.
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The open questions
Two things are worth keeping in mind. First, this is a proposal, not yet law: the Commission will present its concrete plan on Thursday, after which it faces the EU’s full legislative process before anything takes effect.
Second, the hardest practical question remains unanswered: how to verify a child’s age online without harming everyone’s privacy. The Dutch and Spanish proposal calls for age-verification systems that protect users’ privacy, but it does not specify how to achieve that, and the EU would set the minimum age, with the same rules applying across all member states. The central challenge is making age checks work without forcing every user to hand over identity documents.
For parents in the Netherlands, the overall direction is obvious, even if specifics and timing remain uncertain. This shift aligns with broader concerns, reflected in recent Dutch discussions on children and vaping, declining reading skills, and the impact of screens and online content on youth. It also raises questions about where the responsibility to protect them should rest.