European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, on 13 July 2026, received the final report of the Special Panel on Child Safety Online and announced that the Commission will present a legislative proposal after the summer to protect children from harmful social media algorithms and addictive features. In a statement with the panel's co-chairs, von der Leyen said the status quo of allowing 'big tech unrestricted access to our children' must end, citing data that young Europeans spend four to six hours daily on screens and nearly 60% have experienced emotional or psychosocial problems online. She outlined three priorities: enforcing the Digital Services Act (DSA) to hold platforms accountable, deploying an age-verification app, and considering a legal 'social media start date' with phased access for different age groups.
Von der Leyen commissioned the Special Panel several months ago to examine the benefits, opportunities and harms of social media algorithms on children. The panel's report, delivered on 13 July, provides evidence that the president said has been 'waiting for.' She stressed that under the DSA, platforms have a duty of care, especially to vulnerable users, and pointed to recent enforcement actions against TikTok's addictive design and against Meta. The Commission's planned proposal will define a category of 'social media plus' platforms—those with age-inappropriate and addictive features—and set age-appropriate restrictions, potentially including no screens under age three and supervised, time-limited access for older children. Von der Leyen compared the needed cultural shift to past safety campaigns on drink-driving and seatbelt use, acknowledging change will take time.
a legislative proposal after the summer, an existing age-verification app described as easy to use, privacy-preserving, and open source, and a clear policy orientation toward restricting children's access to social media through age-based regulation. Von der Leyen framed the issue as one of child safety and parental control, arguing that 'parents bring up our kids, and not predatory algorithms.' The announcement builds on the DSA framework but signals a significant new regulatory push, with potential major impact on social media platforms operating in the EU, national authorities that would enforce age-verification rules, parents and children as end-users, and civil society groups advocating for child protection. The policy orientation is strongly interventionist, shifting from platform self-regulation toward mandated safety-by-design and age-gating, with a conciliatory tone toward parents but a demanding stance toward tech companies.