EU lawmakers propose that youth under 16 be barred from social media without parental consent

The European Parliament issued a non-binding opinion urging a ban on social media access for children under 13 and parental consent for those under 16, advocating privacy-friendly age verification and stronger enforcement of child-protection laws. The opinion recommends that these measures be included in the proposed Digital Fairness Act and highlights risks from targeted advertising, addictive design features, influencer promotions, virtual currencies in games, and AI-driven misinformation and manipulation, while calling for safety-by-design, algorithmic transparency, data minimisation, digital literacy, and parental education.