The Guardian says a ban for under-13s, TheJournal.ie says restrictions for under-15s — RTÉ prints a third age

What she said. Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday that she would bring a draft law on children and social media. The Guardian and RTÉ News both give its core as a ban on accounts for children under 13.

Where the reports part.

Four of the five reports put the ban at 13. One headline puts it at 15, and that one calls the rules something being "rolled out" rather than proposed.

Everyone quoted is for it. The voices across all five reports are von der Leyen, four students at a school in Templeogue, south Dublin, and their principal. No platform, no objecting parent, no lawyer on free expression. One report records that France's Constitutional Council struck down a similar law on free-expression grounds.

Not settled. What rule covers a 14-year-old: no report we hold says. Whether the middle tier is 13 to 15 or 15 to 18. Whether chatbots and gaming are in scope — only TheJournal.ie says they are. The Commission's own text was not due until the day after all five reports were filed.

What this is about. The European Union's executive has said it will write a law setting a minimum age at which a child can hold a social media account. The five reports filed on that announcement do not agree on what the age is.

How it got here. The European Commission is the EU's executive and the only body that can propose EU law; the European Parliament, which sits in Strasbourg, and the governments of the 27 member states must both agree before a proposal becomes law, a process that normally takes years. Ursula von der Leyen has led the Commission since 2019 and was confirmed for a second term in 2024.

Ages are already contested in EU law. The bloc's data protection rules, in force since 2018, set the age at which a child can consent to a service handling their data at 16, but let each country lower it to as far as 13. Countries chose differently — Ireland kept 16 — which is why both numbers circulate whenever children and platforms are discussed. Separately, the Digital Services Act, applied to the largest platforms from 2023, already obliges them to assess risks to minors. Outside Europe, Australia legislated in 2024 to bar under-16s from holding accounts, with the ban taking effect in December 2025. RTÉ News reports a growing number of countries moving the same way after a global backlash.

Who is in it. The Commission proposes. Parliament and national governments decide. The platforms are the parties regulated, and Ireland hosts the European headquarters of several of the largest, which is why Irish newsrooms cover this as domestic news.

What is at stake. A hard minimum age means platforms must verify how old every user is, which is why age rules run into free expression and privacy objections — one report records that France's Constitutional Council struck down a similar French law on free-expression grounds.

Where it stands. Nothing is law. The Commission's own draft text was not due until after all five reports were filed.