JAKARTA - Austria is considering issuing a ban on the use of social media for children under the age of 14, following similar steps in Australia and France.
The State Secretary for Digital Affairs, Alexander Proll, told public broadcaster ORF that the government aims to implement the ban at the start of the new school year and is researching technical solutions to enforce it.
For this reason, experts from political parties will meet to develop a more detailed concept, with Australia as a model of an age verification method.
In Australia, users are required to provide identification, while the platform also uses facial and voice recognition and behavioral analysis.
The Austrian Social Democratic (SPO) coalition party and the liberal NEOS party support the principle of the ban but disagree on its implementation.
As reported by ANTARA from Anadolu, NEOS media spokesperson Henrike Brandstotter, opposed the implementation of the Australian model, citing concerns about data collection, and suggested waiting for the "eID" system expected to be operational by 2027.
According to Proll, the proposed age restriction in Austria is under discussion, and he supports its implementation in adolescents aged 14 years, which is in line with the age of legal competence and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which allows member states to set the age of consent for online data processing between 13 and 16 years.
SPO called for a national ban if a solution across Europe is not agreed by the end of 2025.
Meanwhile, the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) criticized the plan, claiming it restricted freedom of expression, while the Green Party demanded mandatory age verification and sanctions for non-compliant platforms.
At the EU level, leaders have backed age restrictions to protect minors in the digital sphere.
The European Parliament, which had previously called for a minimum age of 13 for social networks, video platforms and AI chatbots, urged the European Commission to establish binding age limits by the end of 2026.
The French bill, backed by President Emmanuel Macron, approved on Monday by the lower house of the National Assembly, aims to impose the ban at the start of the 2026 school year, with full age verification of users to be introduced on January 1, 2027.
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