The European Union is about to unveil its strategy for protecting children online, but proposals to limit their access to social media and enforce age checks have been met with criticism from children’s rights and privacy advocates.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen is to explain next week how she sees the 27-nation bloc going about curbing children’s use of social media in a much-anticipated address to the European Parliament.

The restrictions on social media use by children under 13 – advocated by an expert panel – or under 15, as France desires, are under consideration by Von der Leyen.

Before her statement, more than a year of pressure will have been exerted on her by various EU member countries such as Denmark and Greece, and this will come right after Australia’s world-famous ban in December 2025, which is followed by bans in Greece, Denmark, and Spain.

Nevertheless, there has been emerging proof lately regarding the negative effects of social media usage among children in terms of their psychological and physiological welfare, as pointed out by the social media opponents.

Regardless of the EU’s decision, the measures will be accompanied by a rollout of an age-check system later this year, which will be designed to make sure that the restrictions are really enforced.

However, the plans are coming under criticism from a variety of quarters in Brussels: children’s rights organisations worry about restrictions on social media freedom of expression, as well as digital rights organisations about age verification.

The Centre for Democracy and Technology (CDT) Europe’s Christian Cirhigiri said it was platforms that needed to be regulated, not children’s access to online participation, to protect the fundamental rights of children.

Platforms should change

Children’s rights advocates and other civil society organisations are concerned about the impact of reduced access, particularly how this may not provide young people with the social and resource opportunities that they require to enhance their development.

Restrictions would take away their right to freedom of expression and access to information, which are “very essential rights” guaranteed even by the UN Charter, Cirhigiri said to AFP.

Some 132 rights and mental health groups and experts are also against the blanket ban, and in a letter to von der Leyen given to AFP, they called on the EU to make platforms safer.

The idea of a ban is supported by a majority of the 27 member states but not unanimously.

Estonian digital minister Liisa-Ly Pakosta told AFP it was “very hard to morally understand why access to information should be banned,” adding that “the platforms should change.

The EU has already used its strongest legal tool to force Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to alter their “addictive” designs this year, and it’s another online content law, called the Digital Services Act, that will be used to achieve this.

Simeon de Brouwer, a digital rights activist from EDRi, says it’s not about the use of the internet by young people, but about the environment not being made safe.

Online platforms put young people in reach of predators, scammers and others, and they can quickly become addicted, he said.

Concerns over age checks 

Australia’s ban demonstrated that teenagers are able to bypass the ban by using VPNs or by hiding their age.

The EU hopes its age-check app will stop this — with users able to verify their age with their passport or national ID, via reliable providers like a bank or in person at, for example, a post office.

Critics say such an app would endanger Europeans’ privacy and would also restrict people’s freedom online since all users will have to prove their age.

The age verification will have a chilling effect on users’ online speech,” Cirhigiri told AFP, as not everyone may have the appropriate documentation and others may not be willing to submit their ID.

Brussels says the “user-friendly” app respects users’ privacy since it only stores information on a person’s age and not any other details such as names or birthdays.

The EU states that the app would not share any data with digital platforms, and that the tools would only communicate to find out if someone is above a certain age.

The app is based on “zero-knowledge proof”, that is, a “yes” or “no” answer is performed in a cryptographic manner without disclosing any personal data.

But it seemed that issues were in the spotlight since the EU started the blueprint of the app in April, and experts identified privacy and security concerns.

Self-described security consultant Paul Moore demonstrated how he could “hack” it in “two minutes”. In July, he said on X he was able to bypass the app again.

While platforms won’t be required to use the EU’s age-verification app, it’s regarded as the standard, and if not, they’ll need to adopt another that meets Brussels ‘ requirements.