On October 7, 2025, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen took to the floor of the Folketing, Denmark’s parliament, and delivered a message that’s now reverberating far beyond the country’s borders: Denmark intends to ban social media for children under the age of 15. The proposal, which would allow parents to grant exceptions for children as young as 13, is the latest and perhaps boldest move yet in a growing international effort to shield young people from what leaders describe as the darker side of digital life.
“The reality is that we have let a monster loose. Never before have so many children and young people suffered from anxiety and depression,” Frederiksen declared, as reported by CNN and BBC. She didn’t mince words, stating that mobile phones and social networks are “stealing our children’s childhood.”
Frederiksen’s speech was a clarion call, laced with both urgency and concern. She acknowledged the benefits of technology—kids can call home, stay in touch with friends—but she argued that the negatives now outweigh the positives. “On screens, they see things no child or young person should see,” she said, referencing a rise in mental health issues, declining reading and concentration skills, and new safety concerns online. According to Cybernews, she cited data suggesting that 94% of Danish seventh-grade children already have a social media profile before turning 13, despite that being the minimum age required by most platforms.
The numbers are striking. A February 2025 report from the Danish Wellbeing Commission found that children aged nine to 14 spend an average of three hours a day on apps like YouTube and TikTok. Even more startling, Frederiksen pointed to statistics indicating that 60% of Danish boys aged 11 to 19 don’t physically see a single friend in their free time over the course of a week. “Do you think that number would be so high if it weren’t for the smartphone?” she asked the chamber, as quoted by CNN.
This isn’t Denmark’s first step in the digital crackdown. In September, lawmakers voted to ban cellphones from elementary schools and after-school programs, a move recommended by the Wellbeing Commission. The new social media proposal would build on those efforts, aiming to “take better care of our children here in Denmark,” Frederiksen said.
But Denmark is not alone in this crusade. The country is part of a growing coalition of European nations demanding stricter protections for young people online. France’s President Emmanuel Macron has been vocal about wanting a ban for under-15s if no EU-wide action materializes. French Delegate Minister for AI and Digital Affairs, Clara Chappaz, has been rallying other EU states—Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, and Spain among them—to push for continent-wide age check mechanisms. Denmark, notably, took over the rotating EU presidency in July 2025, giving it a central role in shaping the debate.
Norway, too, has announced plans to enforce a strict minimum age of 15 for social media, with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre warning of the “power of the algorithms” and their impact on children. The Netherlands has advised parents not to let their kids under 15 use platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, rather than a blanket ban, regulators have leaned on companies to enforce existing age restrictions and protect young users from harmful content.
Perhaps the most dramatic action so far has come from Australia. In November 2024, it became the first country in the world to pass a law banning social media for children under 16. The law, which gives platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok a year to comply, threatens fines of up to $33 million for violations. “Platforms now have a social responsibility to ensure the safety of our kids is a priority for them,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters, as reported by the Associated Press.
The Danish proposal, however, faces a thicket of practical and philosophical challenges. For one, Frederiksen did not specify which social media platforms would be affected, though a 2024 Danish citizen’s initiative—signed by 50,000 people—called for bans on TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. And while the government’s intent is clear, a bill on an age limit does not yet appear in the legislative program for the coming year, raising questions about the timeline and political will for actual implementation.
Enforcement is another headache. As Cybernews points out, the only way to ensure children don’t access social media is through robust age verification—a method that has proven elusive. Jessica Galissaire, a platform regulation expert at the European tech policy think tank interface, notes that while the EU has age assurance requirements under the GDPR, Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), and Digital Services Act (DSA), platforms simply ignore them. “We already have age assurance in the EU. Why would it be different this time? Why would the platforms comply all of a sudden? And if they don't comply, why would authorities all of a sudden go after them and tell them what to do?” Galissaire told Cybernews.
Galissaire’s own tests of popular platforms—Discord, Fortnite, Instagram, Roblox, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitch, and YouTube—found that all rely on self-declaration for age checks, a system easily skirted by tech-savvy kids. Parental consent tools, where offered (such as on YouTube and Fortnite), are either applied after account creation or can be bypassed with minimal effort. “If you cannot access the platform when you are 15, what happens when you are 16? Are you all of a sudden equipped with the critical thinking that's required to be safe in these spaces?” she asked, highlighting the dilemma of merely shifting the problem a year or two down the road.
Critics also point out that bans may not address the root issues. Age verification alone, Galissaire argues, “only delays the problem.” It doesn’t prevent adults from contacting kids, nor does it create safe spaces for young people to communicate with peers. “The tech platforms are the number one responsible actors here,” she said, emphasizing the need for industry accountability.
Social media companies, for their part, have lobbied against bans. In Australia, TikTok ran ads touting its value as an educational tool, while other platforms insisted they already take steps to protect children from harmful content.
Back in Denmark, the debate is far from settled. Supporters of the ban say it’s a necessary intervention to protect children’s mental health and development. Critics, meanwhile, worry about enforcement, privacy implications of age verification, and whether such laws may simply push kids onto less-regulated corners of the internet.
As the Danish government weighs its next moves, one thing is clear: the question of how best to balance the benefits and harms of digital technology for young people is now at the heart of policy debates across the globe. Denmark’s proposal is the latest flashpoint in a conversation that shows no signs of slowing down.
