EU nation wants to ban social media for teens

“We have unleashed a monster,” Danish PM Mette Frederiksen has said, as she proposed new restrictions for those under 15

The Danish government intends to ban minors under the age of 15 from using several social media platforms, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has announced.

In an address to parliament on Tuesday, Frederiksen sounded the alarm over the impact social media is having on the youth. “Mobile phones… are stealing our children’s childhood,” she said, adding that “we have unleashed a monster.” She noted that almost all Danish seventh graders, typically aged 13 or 14, already own a cellphone.

The prime minister, however, did not give further details on the proposed ban or how it would be implemented, or which platforms would be impacted.

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This comes as a government-commissioned wellbeing report found that 94% of young Danes had social media profiles before turning 13, despite minimum age rules on many platforms. It also found that children aged 9-14 spent, on average, about three hours a day on TikTok and YouTube.

A 2025 report by the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority found that 10% of young users often regretted time spent online, 21% struggled to log off, and 29% exceeded the time they intended to spend on preferred platforms.

According to Statista, Facebook remained Denmark’s most popular social network in 2024, used by 83% of the population, followed by Instagram at 65%, Snapchat at 51%, and TikTok at 34%.

In 2024, a citizens’ initiative backed by 50,000 signatures proposed banning TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram for minors. This past February, acting on the wellbeing commission’s recommendations, Denmark moved to ban mobile phones in schools.

A WHO-backed Health Behavior in School-aged Children study found that 11% of adolescents in Europe, Central Asia, and Canada reported problematic social media use in 2022, a significant increase from 7% in 2018. This addiction-like behavior, characterized by a loss of control, withdrawal symptoms, and negative life consequences, was more prevalent among girls (13%) than boys (9%).