Dutch and Spanish Governments Call for EU-Wide Minimum Age for Social Media Until Platforms Prove Safety
THE HAGUE, Sept. 11 — The Dutch government has formally asked the European Commission to prepare the ground for a European minimum age for social media, arguing that the European Union cannot wait for platforms to voluntarily improve their safety standards. In a joint initiative with Spain, Minister Aerdts for Digital Economy and Sovereignty has submitted a set of policy proposals to the Commission that outline in detail how such a minimum age could be designed, implemented, and enforced without disproportionately limiting fundamental rights. The move is driven by growing concern about addictive algorithms, harmful content, and manipulative design features that put children at risk every day. The proposal does not present a minimum age as an ideal long-term solution; rather, it is framed as a necessary safeguard for as long as social media services are not demonstrably safe for minors. “We would not accept unsafe products for children in the physical world. The same stand should apply online,” Aerdts said. “As long as social media platforms fail to adequately protect children from addictive design and harmful content, we need a minimum age. This should be regulated at the European level, so that children across Europe benefit from the same protection.” The Dutch and Spanish governments are therefore asking the European Commission to develop, together with all member states, a reliable, safe and effective European approach, one that avoids the fragmentation of national rules and protects children across borders. The proposals come against the backdrop of the EU’s Digital Services Act, but they seek to go further by placing children’s safety at the centre of the debate and by insisting that platforms, not users, should carry the burden of proving that their services are fit for young people.
Before any age limit can become law, the Netherlands and Spain acknowledge that the introduction of a minimum age for social media will raise legitimate concerns about privacy and data protection, as well as freedom of expression. Age limits that require users to verify how old they are can easily lead to excessive collection of personal data or to exclusion of children who are entitled to participate in digital life. Verification mechanisms may also have unintended consequences for vulnerable groups, for example by creating barriers to access to information, communication and information services. The Dutch and Spanish governments say that any measure must therefore be necessary and proportionate to its objective. In particular, they are calling for privacy-preserving verification methods and they are asking the European Commission to assess thoroughly in advance whether a proposed age restriction is justified in light of the rights it touches. They are also warning that any extension of an age restriction beyond social media to other digital services would need to be carefully designed and clearly scoped, so that it does not interfere more than necessary with children’s access to the internet and does not create unrealistic practical burdens for ordinary websites and online tools. The guiding principle, according to the governments, is that the protection of children must be real, but not at any price. Policies must avoid building a digital environment in which every internet user is treated as a potential suspect and forced to prove their age whenever they enter a chatroom, watch a video, or join an online game. The proposals therefore contain an explicit instruction to the European Commission to weigh those rights carefully and to choose the least intrusive ways of reaching the intended safety goal.
The Dutch and Spanish governments are also introducing the idea of a European framework for independently assessing whether social media platforms are safe enough for children before an age restriction is either introduced or lifted. Platforms that can demonstrate that their services meet clear safety standards could be exempted from the age limit, leaving them free to operate under normal rules if they genuinely protect children from addictive design and harmful content. To make that possible, the Netherlands is looking to existing instruments such as the Dutch Children’s Rights Impact Assessment, or KIA, and the rules and procedures established under the Digital Services Act, which already require large online platforms to assess systemic risks and take protective measures. Under this idea, social media providers would need to prove that their products have been designed in a way that protects children, rather than relying on vague promises or self-regulatory statements. The Commission then could independently verify whether those claims are reliable and could renew, suspend, or revoke the exemption if a platform fails to live up to its obligations. This would turn the logic of the regulatory debate upside down: instead of restricting children by default, platforms that are safe could be treated differently from those that are not. The Dutch and Spanish governments therefore propose a European assessment framework in which children’s rights and safety standards are placed at the heart of regulatory decisions. They stress that such a framework would be fairer for businesses, clearer for parents, and more likely to survive legal challenges because it would be based on objective criteria and evidence.
The two countries are also insisting that the minimum age for social media be introduced as uniform European Union law, not as a set of national initiatives. Social media services in Europe do not respect borders; a single EU-wide rule is essential to create certainty for regulators, companies, and especially for parents and children. A patchwork system of different age limits and verification rules in different member states would confuse users, fragment the digital single market, and allow platforms to operate under the least demanding jurisdiction. The governments therefore want the minimum age to be embedded in an EU regulation, which is directly applicable in all member states, rather than in a directive that must be transposed into national law. National derogations should be kept to a strict minimum, as they would create inconsistencies and weaken enforcement. The enforcement itself should be organised at the European level, where the Commission and European supervisory bodies would have the power to monitor platforms, issue sanctions, and require changes to algorithms and default settings if children’s safety is put at risk. This approach is intended to support a level playing field for companies, because responsible platforms will no longer be undercut by competitors that attract minors through dangerous design. It also sends a political signal to the rest of the world that Europe takes its children’s digital rights seriously and refuses to leave safety to algorithms that are not accountable to democratic oversight. The Netherlands and Spain are aware that the EU legislative process will take time, but they are asking the Commission to start working on the technical and legal infrastructure now, so that a future regulation can be adopted without further delay.
When it comes to verifying the age of users, the Dutch and Spanish governments distinguish between a number of possible routes. The first is age verification, in which the user must actively prove that they have reached the age threshold. The second is age estimation, based on signals such as physical characteristics, often using automated systems to estimate whether someone is likely to be above or below the threshold. The third is self-declaration, where the user simply confirms their age without presenting evidence. The two governments are clear that any of these methods must be both effective and privacy-friendly, and at present they believe that age verification is the most suitable method to enforce a European minimum age. The key principle, however, is that verification should only confirm whether a user meets the necessary age, without sharing extra personal data about the user, and without building a profile of their online behaviour. That means that the service should be offered in a way that minimises the amount of data collected, stores no more than a simple yes-or-no answer, and does not store information in a way that could identify an individual. The proposal asks the Commission to set legally binding requirements for all verification providers so that public authorities do not receive large amounts of personal data about citizens. It also warns that verification systems must not introduce unnecessary friction for adult users and must not prevent children from accessing essential services or information to which they are entitled. In that way, the proposal tries to strike a careful balance between the need to protect children and the need to preserve privacy, anonymity, and freedom of access in the digital public sphere.
The Dutch and Spanish governments also stress that a minimum age is not an end in itself; it should be part of a broader strategy to make Europe’s digital environment safe for everyone. The stated aim is not to restrict young people’s access to digital services, but to create conditions under which access can be expanded safely. Therefore, the proposal calls on the European Commission to support the development of child-safe European digital services, including age-appropriate platforms, better default settings, and services designed with children’s psychological needs in mind. If safe alternatives become available, the enforcement of a minimum age becomes easier, because children will have somewhere to go and parents will have practical options instead of simply being told that social media is off limits. In addition, the Netherlands and Spain are urging the Commission to prioritise the protection of minors in international discussions and collaborations with non-EU countries. Since most major social media platforms are headquartered outside the European Union, the EU cannot be the only actor working for global safety standards. The governments want the EU to use its regulatory leverage and diplomatic cooperation to ensure that digital services are designed with global safety in mind, so that age restrictions introduced in Europe are not undermined by services established elsewhere. In the end, the Dutch-Spanish initiative seeks to create a European policy that is both ambitious and rights-based. It offers a practical roadmap for turning political pressure for a minimum age into legislation that is legally robust, technically feasible, and genuinely capable of protecting children. The European Commission, which has already received the proposals, will now have to decide how fast it wants to move and whether it shares the view that the safety of children in the digital world requires the same seriousness as the safety of toys, medicines, and food in the physical world.
