VIENNA (AP) — Austria's governing coalition on Friday announced plans to ban social media use for children under 14, joining a string of other countries in drawing up restrictions for young people.
Alexander Pröll, the official in Chancellor Christian Stocker's office responsible for digitization, said that draft legislation will be drawn up by the end of June. He said that “technically modern methods” of age verification will be used that allow users to verify their age while respecting their privacy.
It wasn't immediately clear when the plan to introduce a minimum age, which will need parliamentary approval, might take effect.
Australia in 2024 took the lead, becoming the first country to eject children under 16 from social media with the intention of protecting them from harmful content and excessive screen time. A similar ban in Indonesia is due to start taking effect on Saturday.
In Europe, lawmakers in France in January approved a bill banning social media for children under 15, paving the way for the measure to enter into force at the start of the next school year in September. Spain last month announced plans for a social media ban for under-16s. Denmark last fall announced an agreement for an access ban for under-15s. The British government said in January it would consider banning young teenagers from social media.
Recommended for you
Austria's three-party centrist coalition is now joining the trend.
“Today is a good day for children for children in our country,” Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler said at a news conference. “In the future, we will protect children and young people with determination against the negative effects of social media platforms.”
“We will no longer look on as these platforms make our children addicted and often also sick,” he said.
The Austrian government plans to accompany the ban with an effort to beef up schools' teaching of how to use media and deal with artificial intelligence.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.