EU Moves to Bar Social Media for Under-13s, and the Interior Counts Its Screens

The European Union will ban social media for children under 13 and allow only limited, supervised access until the age of 15 under plans unveiled on Wednesday by the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. The Local Italy reported that von der Leyen presented the measure with the phrase "Europe has power to act", framing the bloc as a regulator willing to set a floor for minors online.

The proposal is a plan, not yet law: it must pass through the EU's ordinary legislative machinery, where the European Parliament and the member states will each get their say. According to The Local Italy, the commission's stated aim is to restrict unsupervised access for the youngest users while leaving room for what it calls supervised use up to 15.

For Italy, the practical question is enforcement, and enforcement in this country runs through families, schools and local services that thin out the further you go from the big cities. That is the shape the debate takes in Molise.