Overview
- On Wednesday June 24, a government-appointed experts commission handed Families Minister Karin Prien 56 recommendations that propose either a statutory minimum age of 13 for independent social‑media accounts or risk-based, service‑specific restrictions.
- Prien endorsed the 13-year minimum and said she will push for an EU solution while preparing national legislation as a fallback if Brussels does not move quickly.
- Beyond an age limit the commission calls for technical safeguards that include protected default settings for minors, limits on personalized ads and addictive design features like endless feeds and autoplay.
- The report also recommends stronger age verification, a nationwide ‘Kinderjugendwache’ help service, a ban on private phone use up to grade seven in schools, and stepped protections for 13–18 year olds.
- The commission bases its urgency on prevalence figures—about one million young people with problematic use and roughly 300,000 with addiction‑like patterns—and notes that international examples such as Australia show bans can reduce use for some but are often easy to circumvent, which strengthens the case for EU-level rules and enforceable platform obligations.