According to EU News, the Danish government announced a political agreement on Friday to ban any teenagers under the age of 15 from accessing social media platforms. This initiative, led by Denmark's Ministry of Digitalization, will set the minimum age limit for social media at 15 years old, but after special evaluation, some parents can agree to the registration of social accounts by children over 13 years old.
The regulation will be one of the strictest measures taken by an EU country on teenagers' use of social media and comes amid growing global concerns about minors' addiction to social networks. Denmark's move is similar to Australia's latest relevant policy: the Australian Parliament previously passed the world's first social media children's ban, stipulating that minors under the age of 16 are not allowed to register social accounts. The ban will take effect on December 10 this year. Australia also requires platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and YouTube to face huge fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars (approximately 28.3 million euros) if they systematically violate the ban.
Denmark's Ministry of Digital Affairs stated in a statement that the age limit will target "some" social media, but did not announce specific platforms or implementation details. With millions of children around the world having easy access to electronic devices, the difficulty of implementation remains to be seen. However, the industry believes that Denmark's move is bound to trigger global discussions.
"As one of the first countries in the European Union, Denmark is taking the ground-breaking step of setting an age threshold for social media," the ministry said. "This move is aimed at protecting children and teenagers in the digital world."
The ruling coalition group, composed of many lawmakers from the left, right and center, believes that children and young people should not have to face the pressure and troubles caused by the digital world alone under the influence of commercial interests and harmful content. The minister's statement pointed out that online socialization has disrupted children's sleep, distracted them, and made them feel more and more pressure in digital relationships where adults have not intervened in time.
“No parent, teacher or educator can fight this trend alone,” the Ministry of Digitalization added, quoting Digitalization Minister Caroline Stage as saying that with this agreement, Denmark has finally drawn a line and set a clear direction.
"Denmark is leading the European trend with a national social media age threshold to comprehensively strengthen the digital health of children and teenagers." She also said, "We are firmly opposed to the current situation where large technology platforms have developed freely in children's space for too long."