Sweden weighs social media age limit of 15  

* Several European nations are seeking to rein ‌in children's use of social media after Australia took the lead with a world-first ban on under-16s in December last year. * "The reasons for ‌introducing an age limit nevertheless outweigh the benefits of continued ‌free access to this type of media," Swedish investigator Lisa Englund Krafft told a news conference with Social Affairs and Public Health Minister Jakob Forssmed.


Reuters | Stockholm | Updated: 02-06-2026 20:06 IST | Created: 02-06-2026 20:06 IST
Sweden weighs social media age limit of 15  

Sweden should introduce ​a minimum age of 15 ​for the use of ‌social media, ​a government-appointed commission recommended on Tuesday. * Several European nations are seeking to rein ‌in children's use of social media after Australia took the lead with a world-first ban on under-16s in December last year.

* "The reasons for ‌introducing an age limit nevertheless outweigh the benefits of continued ‌free access to this type of media," Swedish investigator Lisa Englund Krafft told a news conference with Social Affairs and Public Health Minister Jakob Forssmed. * A ⁠ban can ​be formulated ⁠in a way that the platform companies would be responsible for the task ⁠of age verification, she said.

* In Sweden, there is currently a limit ​of 13 years for when children must have parental consent ⁠to create accounts on social media. * "We are losing an entire generation to endless ⁠scrolling," Forssmed ​told the press conference. "Screens and social media and their impact on the health of children and young people is one ⁠of the biggest challenges of our time."

* In neighbouring Norway, the ⁠government ⁠said in April it plans to submit a bill to parliament by year-end on banning social media use ‌by ‌under-16s.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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