Denmark’s government says it plans to ban social media for children under the age of 15, citing growing concerns over the impact of online platforms on youth mental health.
The move, which follows a call from Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and has secured majority support in parliament, aims to protect children from harmful content and the pressures of a highly digitized world.
“The so-called social media thrive on stealing our children’s time, childhood and well-being and we are putting a stop to that now,” Digitalization Minister Caroline Stage Olsen said, according to the Associated Press.
Under the new rules, parents would be able to grant exemptions for children as young as 13 to access certain platforms, following a specific assessment.
The initiative comes as data reveals the extent of social media use among Danish youth. An analysis from the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority found that youngsters spend an average of 2 hours and 40 minutes on social media each day. Ms. Olsen told the AP that 94 percent of Danish children under 13 have a profile on at least one social media platform.
“The amount of time they spend online — the amount of violence, self-harm that they are exposed to online — is simply too great a risk for our children,” Ms. Olsen said. She criticized tech giants for not doing enough to ensure user safety, adding, “They have an absurd amount of money available, but they’re simply not willing to invest in the safety of our children, invest in the safety of all of us.”
The government has not yet detailed how the ban will be enforced, a common challenge for such regulations. However, officials pointed to Denmark’s national electronic ID system as a potential tool for creating a reliable age-verification app.
“We cannot force the tech giants to use our app,” Ms. Olsen said, “but what we can do is force the tech giants to make proper age verification, and if they don’t, we will be able to enforce through the EU Commission and make sure that they will be fined up to 6 percent of their global income.”
While the legislation will take several months to finalize, the minister was firm on the government’s stance. “I can assure you that Denmark will hurry, but we won’t do it too quickly because we need to make sure that the regulation is right and that there are no loopholes for the tech giants to go through,” she said.
Denmark’s move is among the most comprehensive in the European Union but follows similar actions globally. Last year, Australia passed a law banning social media for children under 16.
The Danish government has stressed that the goal is not to exclude children from the digital world entirely, but to shield them from its more damaging aspects.
“Children and young people have their sleep disrupted, lose their peace and concentration, and experience increasing pressure from digital relationships where adults are not always present,” the ministry said. “This is a development that no parent, teacher, or educator can stop alone.”
In June, the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority conducted a behavioral field experiment involving 269 young people aged 13 to 17. Over the course of the six-week experiment, participants interacted with social media more than 1.2 million times.
The authority then tested some forms of intervention, including a six-second waiting period, accompanied by a calming animation, before an app opened.
“The interventions halved the number of social media sessions during school hours and reduced total social media activity during this period by 40 percent. In the evening, participants reduced their social media activity by about 38 percent, gaining up to 16 extra minutes for sleep,” the authority said.
“Notably, the young people’s overall satisfaction with social media remained unaffected by the interventions, indicating that the effects were achieved without compromising their experience.”