At the Protecting Children in the Digital Age event, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivered a speech urging stronger safeguards for children’s online lives and praising Australia’s pioneering efforts in regulating access to social media.
The conference, which brought together political leaders, experts, and advocates, centered on the growing concerns about the risks children face online. Von der Leyen highlighted Australia’s new minimum age law for social media, describing it as “bold” and “world-leading.” She credited Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and advocate Emma, whose personal story about the harms of social media underscored the urgency of the issue.
Von der Leyen noted that across the European Union, children aged 9 to 15 have more than doubled the time they spend on screens and social platforms in the past 15 years. While technology has brought many benefits, she stressed that algorithms are designed to maximize engagement and profit, not child well-being. This design, she said, has fueled risks such as cyberbullying, predatory behavior, encouragement of self-harm, and addictive usage patterns.
“It is for parents to raise their children and not for algorithms,” von der Leyen stated, calling on governments to step in where market forces have failed.
The European Union has already begun piloting measures, including age verification technology now being tested in five member states: France, Spain, Greece, Denmark, and Italy. The Commission also released a prototype earlier this year aimed at creating a system that could work across the EU. Von der Leyen signaled openness to establishing a “digital age of majority” for social media use, comparable to age limits already in place for smoking, drinking, and accessing adult content.
As a mother of seven and grandmother of five, von der Leyen emphasized that her perspective is both professional and personal. She argued that implementing clear boundaries online is “plain common sense” and compared the effort to traditional public health safeguards.
To ensure any policy is well-informed, von der Leyen announced plans to convene a panel of experts, including scientists, pediatricians, teachers, parents, and young people themselves. The goal, she said, is to design rules that reflect real-world experience and balance the benefits of technology with the need to protect children.
Von der Leyen concluded by underscoring the importance of international cooperation. “When it comes to the EU-Australia relationship, there is no distance between our democracies,” she said, suggesting that good ideas should flow across borders just as freely as digital technology does.
She ended on a hopeful note, stressing that the challenge is not to fear technology but to shape it in ways that serve families and communities: “We can clarify our relationship with tech so that it serves us and not the other way round.”
The event reinforced a growing global debate: how to allow children to enjoy the benefits of digital tools while shielding them from harm.
Source: European Commission
