The European Commission has ordered member states to pause national child social media bans for 12 months, freezing national bills across Europe while Brussels drafts a single regulation for the entire trading bloc. Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier announced the 12-month standstill in Brussels on Thursday, directly blocking Austria from enacting its planned restrictions on under-14s.
Key points
- The European Commission has frozen national youth social media restrictions for a year to prevent fragmented digital rules across member states.
- Austria is the first country blocked, halting its planned age limit of 14 for video-sharing platforms and mandatory age verification.
- Greece and France are expected to keep earlier drafts, while Denmark and Italy face regulatory uncertainty.
- Brussels wants a unified EU Kids Act to set common age barriers across all 27 nations, though implementation could take until 2028.
Austria’s legislation frozen
The Commission used internal market review rules to halt Austria’s planned restrictions. Under European Union procedures, member states must submit draft technical regulations to Brussels before enacting them into law.
Austria submitted its proposal on 28 July, according to the European Commission’s technical regulation notification database. The Austrian bill intended to set a strict minimum age of 14 for video-sharing platforms and mandate technical age checks. The statutory three-month standstill period for the submission ended on Thursday, at which point the Commission triggered a 12-month extension.
Regnier told reporters that the Commission decided to delay draft national laws that overlap with planned harmonised rules. The move drew immediate condemnation from Austrian officials.
Alexander Pröll, Austria’s state secretary, said: “It is unacceptable for Brussels to block member states from enacting national laws without presenting a completed European solution of its own.”
Austrian Vice-Chancellor Andreas Babler said he had no sympathy for the delay. Babler confirmed that authorities in Vienna will continue technical preparations so that the national ban can take effect the moment the Commission’s pause expires.
Patchwork rules across the bloc
The regulatory freeze leaves member states operating under completely different domestic timelines. Some governments moved quickly enough to avoid the standstill mechanism.
Greece approved an under-15 ban in late October. Athens submitted its national legislation to Brussels before the European Commission published its own regional proposal, allowing the Greek measures to proceed without facing an automatic freeze.
France remains in an intermediate position. The Commission asked French authorities to amend their draft law, but officials do not plan to block the measure because Paris also notified Brussels early. France’s Constitutional Council struck down an initial attempt at a domestic ban in August, forcing the government to redraft the text.
Other member states are still waiting for regulatory decisions. Draft legislation from Italy remains under review by Commission officials, while other capitals are resisting delays.
In Denmark, digital minister Christina Egelund rejected the idea of waiting for central European institutions to finish their work. Egelund said that the problems are urgent, confirming that the Danish government intends to press ahead with domestic legislation regardless of Brussels.
The EU Kids Act
Brussels is attempting to prevent the digital single market from splitting into 27 separate national regimes with contradictory compliance requirements. The Commission formally proposed the EU Kids Act in September.
The EU Kids Act would prohibit children under 13 from accessing most social media platforms and impose strict usage curbs for users under 15. Regulators in Brussels argue that leaving policy to individual capitals would burden software platforms with competing age-verification mechanisms and conflicting legal definitions.
Commission officials also fear that once member states establish their own domestic systems, national governments will lose interest in negotiating a shared European framework. By forcing a pause on new submissions, Brussels hopes to keep member states focused on a single legislative track.
Passing the regional law will take time. The European Parliament and national ministers in the Council of the European Union must debate, amend and approve the draft before it becomes law. Institutional negotiations over digital market legislation typically stretch over several years, meaning the EU Kids Act may not take effect until 2028.
