EU Readies July 13 Children’s Social Media Recommendation

An expert panel convened by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will hand Brussels its recommendations on EU children’s social media rules on Monday, July 13, with a formal Commission announcement expected in September. EU officials have insisted that no decisions will be taken before the panel reports, per the wire report from Brussels this week. The timing could still shift, officials said.

Officially, the EU is weighing whether to bar minors from social media entirely. In practice, the consequential fight in Brussels is over design features like infinite scroll and personalised feeds, the same features the Commission has already cited in preliminary findings against TikTok and a probe targeting Meta. The panel’s recommendation will land four days before France’s Emmanuel Macron hosts an EU-leader call to push for action on banning social media for children, alongside the rollout of the EU’s new age-verification app. Member states from Cyprus to Estonia are already drafting their own rules, with Brussels telling France on Monday to amend its draft law because it encroached on Commission powers.

The Panel Reports Monday, With September in Reserve

The Special Panel on child safety online wraps a months-long review on Monday with a public presentation by its co-chairs, Dr Maria Melchior and Prof Dr Jörg M. Fegert, to von der Leyen. A separate Eurobarometer survey, published alongside the panel’s final 16 June meeting, sets the data backdrop: 92 percent of Europeans consider strengthening children’s online protection a top policy priority. A formal Commission announcement is expected in September, AFP reports, though the timing could shift.

For a sense of the range, observers point to a German panel that set out two options last month: a statutory minimum age of 13, the age many platforms already operate under, or restrictions on individual services and features. Brussels has been closely watching how Australia’s under-16 ban has played out and where it has been challenged, with early data on how Australia’s under-16 ban is actually working already drawing scrutiny, and is widely expected to lean toward a risk-based model over a sweeping prohibition. The full panel roster, drawn from European consumer groups, child-rights advocates, academics and youth representatives, met three times between its launch and the July 13 handoff.

France’s Emmanuel Macron is hosting an EU-leader call today to push for action on banning social media for children. Eight heads of state from Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia are set to attend, alongside digital ministers from Austria, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal. The Commission is using the political moment to roll out an EU-wide age-verification app, with national versions due by year-end in Cyprus, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Ireland and Spain.

The Headline Is Age Limits, the Substance Is Design Features

The framing from Brussels makes age limits the headline. The substance, EU consumer protection commissioner Michael McGrath told AFP, sits one layer below. “Whatever decisions are made on age limits, we must also tackle the business models and design choices shaping children’s online experiences every day,” McGrath said. He added that the new law expected later this year would “recognise children as vulnerable consumers” and that minors “must be protected by design”.

Brussels could take a risk-based approach, AFP reports, prohibiting features it views as harmful rather than banning platforms like Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok. A YouGov poll published Thursday and covering France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain found a majority want platforms to remove “harmful” design features like endless scroll and personalised content feeds.

A clear majority of Europeans back moving the burden of proof onto platforms. 75 percent of the more than 5,100 adults surveyed said platforms should be inaccessible to minors until they prove they are safe, the YouGov poll found. That public pressure, more than any single national law, is what shapes what the Commission can announce in September.

Member States Are Not Waiting for Brussels

While Brussels deliberates, EU governments are drafting their own rules, and several have already run into the Commission’s jurisdiction. On Monday, AFP reports, Brussels told France to amend its draft law because it encroached on the European Commission’s powers. The Commission has been clear that any national law will need to leave room for an EU-wide framework.

The pattern is uneven across the bloc. Some capitals are moving toward outright bans, others toward age-verification schemes, and at least one, Estonia, is digging in against age restrictions entirely.

• Denmark: pushed for an EU move similar to Australia’s ban, per AFP; among the seven EU states deploying national age-verification apps by year-end.
• Greece: prepared its own age-restriction legislation, per AFP; joining the EU age-verification app rollout.
• France: draft law under amendment after Brussels told Paris on Monday to redraw it; Macron hosting today’s EU-leader call.
• Spain: prepared its own age-restriction legislation; joining the seven-country age-verification app rollout.
• Estonia: the rare EU holdout that “fiercely opposes” any ban, per AFP.
• Cyprus, Italy, Ireland: also set to deploy national age-verification apps by year-end.

Brussels Already Has the Sharpest Tool, and the Cases to Match

The Commission is not waiting for the panel to act on platforms. Its main lever is the Digital Services Act, the EU’s online content law, which forces the world’s biggest platforms to remove harmful and dangerous content swiftly and bans targeted advertising to children. Preliminary findings under the DSA can lead to fines of up to 6 percent of a provider’s total worldwide annual turnover, the Commission has said.

On 6 February 2026 the Commission preliminarily found TikTok in breach of the DSA for addictive design, citing features including infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications and a personalised recommender system. Proceedings against TikTok opened on 19 February 2024. An EU official told AFP that the Commission is set to issue findings against Meta’s Facebook and Instagram in a probe looking at how their services may cause addictive behaviour in children before the summer ends; Bloomberg first reported the escalation on 23 June. The Meta investigation opened in May 2024.

Enforcement has begun to land. The Commission hit X with a €120 million fine in December and Temu with €200 million last month, per The Next Web reporting on the DSA’s first enforcement wave. X has appealed. Meta has not commented publicly on the upcoming findings. TikTok has separately settled a teen social media suit in the United States ahead of a 27 July trial.

Digital Rights Groups Want Enforcement, Not a New Law

For the digital rights community, existing EU law can already protect children online if it is actually enforced.

We don’t think that exclusion is the answer. We need to enforce our existing laws.

Simeon de Brouwer, who leads policy work at European Digital Rights (EDRi), called on the Commission to make new consumer protection rules “ambitious”. He also said the EU had been “timid” on enforcement so far, pointing out that Brussels had told TikTok to change its addictive design but had only told Meta to enforce age verification. Reset Tech’s EU director, Michiel van Hulten, framed the burden of proof in starker terms: platforms should have to prove their products are safe before any child, or any adult, can use them. Both positions overlap with the Commission’s emerging design-features frame, and they undercut the case for a sweeping ban that civil liberties groups say would be hard to police and easy to circumvent.

What the Numbers Tell Brussels

The Commission released a new Eurobarometer survey alongside the EU’s 16 June panel meeting, and the figures are the data backbone for whatever the Commission announces in September.

• 4.5 hours: average daily online time for young Europeans on a school day.
• 6.1 hours: average daily online time for young Europeans at weekends.
• 14 percent: share of adolescents spending more than 10 hours a day on screens.
• 45 percent: share of adolescents who say they compare themselves to others on social media.
• 7.5 hours vs 5.7 hours: weekend screen time for those who started social media before age 10 vs after age 14.

The early-use figure is the one the Commission has reached for most directly. Those who started social media before 10 logged 7.5 hours of daily weekend screen time, against 5.7 hours for those who started after 14. Nearly one in three young people told the survey that social media leaves them feeling stressed, sad or excluded, the data show.

A separate Eurobarometer survey conducted between February and March 2026 put public backing for action even higher: 92 percent of Europeans consider strengthening children’s online protection a top policy priority. That number sets the political floor both for any age-limit push and for any design-feature regulation.

How the Gap Between July 13 and September Closes

Between Monday’s panel presentation and the September announcement, three things have to land. The Commission has to absorb the panel’s recommendations, draft a policy that survives a divided Council, and respond to the Macron-led push from eight EU capitals. The Commission has also just rolled out an EU-wide age-verification app, with national versions due by year-end in Cyprus, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Ireland and Spain, per Politico. The app uses zero-knowledge proofs so only a yes-or-no age answer reaches platforms.

Meanwhile, the Meta findings are expected before the summer ends, and TikTok’s preliminary DSA findings remain open. The Commission can keep extracting concessions from platforms under the existing DSA while the broader age-limit debate plays out in public, a sequencing that lets Brussels move on design features regardless of whether member states ever agree on a single age threshold. The September announcement, in that sense, will not be a final answer. It will be the opening bid for the next phase of the fight.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will the EU announce rules on children’s social media use?

The EU’s Special Panel on child safety online hands its recommendations to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday, July 13. A formal Commission announcement on next steps is expected in September, though EU officials have said the timing could shift. The Commission has been working on a parallel consumer protection law that would treat children as vulnerable consumers and require minors to be protected by design.

Is the EU planning to ban TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat for children?

A blanket ban is not the most likely outcome, according to AFP reporting and Commission statements. Brussels has been closely watching how Australia’s under-16 ban has played out and is widely expected to lean toward a risk-based model that targets specific features rather than platforms. The panel is not expected to recommend a sweeping ban. EU consumer protection commissioner Michael McGrath has framed the real fight as one over the business models and design choices shaping children’s online experiences every day. Member states such as Greece and Spain are pushing their own age-restriction legislation in parallel.

What design features is the EU targeting?

The Commission’s preliminary DSA findings against TikTok cited infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications and a highly personalised recommender system. A YouGov poll covering France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain found a majority of respondents want platforms to remove harmful design features like endless scroll and personalised content feeds. The same poll found 75 percent of more than 5,100 adults surveyed want platforms to be inaccessible to minors until they prove they are safe. The Commission has indicated it could prohibit certain features it views as harmful rather than banning individual platforms.

Which EU countries already restrict children’s social media use?

Denmark, Greece and Spain have prepared their own age-restriction legislation, and seven EU states are set to deploy national age-verification apps by year-end: Cyprus, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Ireland and Spain. France’s draft law is being amended after the Commission told Paris on Monday it encroached on EU powers. Estonia, by contrast, fiercely opposes any ban, per AFP.

How does the EU’s age-verification app work?

The Commission rolled out a bloc-wide age-verification app this week, with national versions due by year-end in seven EU countries. The app uses zero-knowledge proofs so only a yes-or-no age answer reaches platforms, and accepts passports, national IDs or attestations from trusted providers such as schools or banks.