The European Commission has told EU capitals they cannot bring in their own social media age limits for the next 12 months, EU Perspectives reports. The pause covers national laws that overlap with the Commission's proposed EU KIDS Act, which was tabled on 17 September. Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier announced the standstill at the midday briefing on 29 October, saying that "the European problem requires a united European response".
Austria is the first country affected. Vienna had wanted to shut children under 14 out of platforms such as TikTok and Instagram from January. Its draft law, notified to Brussels at the end of July, would have amended the country's audiovisual media law to set a minimum age of 14 for certain video-sharing platforms. The Commission's three-month review of that draft ran out only after the KIDS Act had been put forward, which brings the bill under the freeze. Austria now cannot adopt the ban before late July 2027.
Why it matters
The decision delays protection that some governments had promised voters, and it sets a test of how far Brussels can hold back national lawmaking in the name of a single market. It also signals that the Commission intends the KIDS Act, not a patchwork of national thresholds, to set the rules for how old children must be to use social platforms across all 27 member states.
Mr Regnier argued that separate national laws would fracture the EU's internal market. "If you do that, you have different ages, different laws in different member states," he said. Austria's choice of 14 illustrates the point: it matches neither of the two age cut-offs in the Commission's proposal.
What the KIDS Act would require
Under the draft, children under 13 would not be allowed social media accounts at all. Those aged 13 and 14 would hold a "mini account" overseen by a parent, with fewer features and a limit of one hour a day. From 15, teenagers could open accounts of their own. Platforms would have to verify age using certified tools rather than relying on a date-of-birth field.
The legal basis for the pause is the EU's notification procedure for technical rules, known as TRIS. Member states must send draft laws that affect online services to Brussels before adopting them, and the Commission normally has three months to respond. Where it is preparing EU legislation on the same subject, it can stretch that standstill period to 12 months.
Not every national ban is caught. France and Greece notified their laws earlier, and their review periods closed before the KIDS Act appeared. Greece adopted its ban for under-15s on 23 October. Mr Regnier referred only to "legal judicial nuances" in the timing. Slovenia, Italy and Belgium have also notified drafts, he added.
Vienna pushes back
The Austrian government responded with frustration. Vice-Chancellor and Media Minister Andreas Babler said the law is meant to shield children from the daily harm caused by social media companies, and that "that does not deserve a delay". Vienna will continue moving the bill through its national process regardless, with the aim of applying the ban as soon as the EU deadline lapses.
State Secretary for Digitalisation Alexander Pröll went further, telling the Austrian daily Heute that it was "not acceptable" for Brussels to block national legislation without producing a finished European solution of its own. The Commission says it gave Vienna advance notice, and that Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen spoke with the Austrian government the day before the announcement.
The Commission rejects the suggestion that children will go unprotected for another year. "Platforms will not be able to comply with such a fragmented market, and in the end we will all end up with no level of protection," Mr Regnier said. Until the new rules take effect, Brussels says it will enforce the Digital Services Act, the EU's rulebook for online platforms, strictly, and it has called on the European Parliament and the Council to move faster on the KIDS Act.
Watch whether the Parliament and Council accelerate negotiations on the KIDS Act before Austria's standstill expires in late July 2027.
