In May 2025, Greece, France and Spain published a policy paper (on “Protecting minors from online harms and risks: age verification, age-appropriate design and a pan-European digital age of majority”) calling on the European Commission to swiftly introduce an EU-wide age verification system and set a minimum age for social media access.
 
The issue is getting increased attention in the EU, as Denmark (which took over the rotating presidency of the EU from 1 July 2025) also declared that it supports the initiative launched by the three countries mentioned above (together with Cyprus and Slovenia).

Cullen International has just published a new benchmark which shows that eight out of the fourteen countries surveyed seem to be in favour of banning minors from accessing social media. France, Italy and Spain have adopted (or have proposed) legislative texts.
 
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