Children under 15 may lose social media access in Poland

Poland is drafting a law that would restrict access to social media for children under 15, paving the way for a potential battle with some of the largest US tech companies.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Polish Education Minister Barbara Nowacka said the bill, scheduled for review on February 27, would require social media platforms to impose fines for underage access and take responsibility for verifying users’ ages.

“We see the mental health of children and young people, we see a decline in their intellectual competence,” the minister said. She added that the amount of fines for violations is still under discussion.

“To be honest, who’s the owner of this or that platform is absolutely secondary,” Nowacka noted, emphasising that the bill is not being evaluated from a geopolitical perspective.

The minister stressed that government action is necessary because platforms fail to enforce their rules and verify users’ ages. 

“We need to take preventive measures, and not wonder whether this or that country will look at it a certain way,” Nowacka said, adding that it is in the interest of every country to protect its children.

In considering a ban, Warsaw aligns with other European governments such as Denmark, France, Spain, and the UK, all of which have warned of limiting access for millions of young users to services deemed harmful and addictive by regulators.

Denmark’s government agreed on a plan to ban access to social media for children under 15 years old to protect them from online harms, though parents may allow children as young as 13 to use platforms with permission; the law is being prepared and may rely on age‑verification systems under EU rules.

The French National Assembly also approved a bill to ban under‑15s from accessing social media, aiming to shield minors from harmful or addictive content on major platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, before it moves to the Senate for further approval.

Following the European path, Spain’s government has announced a plan to ban social media access for children under 16, framing it as necessary to protect youth in a “digital Wild West” and requiring platforms to implement mandatory age verification to enforce the restriction.

Meanwhile, the UK is examining an Australian‑style ban on social media use for children under 16, with the government launching consultations on possible age limits and stronger age‑verification measures as part of broader online safety reforms.

By Jeyhun Aghazada