Brussels Draws a Line at Thirteen

The European Union has laid out plans, reported by The Local Italy and others, to prohibit social media for children under thirteen and to permit only supervised access until fifteen, alongside obligations on platforms to make their services safe before minors use them. The measure is framed as a protection of the young. It is also, unavoidably, a statement about who holds authority over childhood in Europe.

Italy will not be a passive recipient of this rule. Italian households are among the most intergenerational in Europe, with grandparents, parents and children often living within a short distance of one another, and the negotiation over a child's screen time is conducted in that dense setting. A ban from Brussels will be experienced in the kitchen, not the parliament. Whether it is obeyed will depend less on enforcement than on whether families believe it describes the world they live in.

There is a serious argument on the other side, and it deserves stating plainly. Age verification requires the collection of data about minors, which is its own hazard. A prohibition can push young users onto less regulated corners of the internet rather than away from it. And a rule that treats thirteen as a bright line may be simpler to legislate than to justify, given how unevenly children mature. These are not reasons to do nothing; they are reasons to be honest about what is being attempted.

What is notable, seen from outside, is the confidence. Brussels has concluded that it has the power to act, and has said so. For a continent that has spent a decade being told it moves too slowly, the assertion is itself the news. The test will come later, in the ordinary homes of member states, where the rule will either take root or be quietly ignored.