Khaberni - The ruling coalition in Austria announced plans to ban social media use for children under 14 years old, joining a series of other countries in imposing such restrictions on children.
Alexander Broll, the digitalization officer in the office of the Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker, said that a bill on this matter will be introduced by the end of next June. He added that "modern technical methods for age verification will be applied to allow checking users' ages while respecting their privacy."
It was not immediately clear when the plan to set a minimum age might come into effect, which will require parliamentary approval.
It is noted that Australia took the lead in this regard in 2024, becoming the first country to ban social media use by children under the age of 16 to protect them from harmful content and excessive screen use. A similar ban is scheduled to go into effect in Indonesia tomorrow, Saturday.
