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 online publishes its recommendations next week, one question will be on everyone’s minds: to ban or not to ban?

The expert group was created by Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, amid growing political pushback about how children can access digital services, especially social media. Several European countries 

 with social media bans for children, while the likes of Australia and the United Kingdom 

“When a quarter of our young people are confronted with problematic content online – from hate speech, to body pressure, to unexpected violence – it is a clear signal that it is time for change,” von der Leyen 

 when the special panel held its final meeting on June 16.

The group, which is co-chaired by a French and a German academic, will present its recommendations on July 13. It will then be down to von der Leyen and other EU leaders to decide whether the 27-country bloc should move ahead with an Australia-style ban or find another way to keep children safe in the increasingly digital world.

Brussels has already made child online safety one of its priority areas under the bloc’s Digital Services Act, and EU enforcers 

 against the likes of TikTok for how it designs its services toward keeping children engaged on its social network. The other area that has been earmarked for attention under the EU’s online safety rules is online marketplaces, where counterfeit goods may also 

The European Commission is also slated to publish its long-awaited 

 by the end of the year, which similarly targets how social media platforms are designed to keep people engaged.

Yet the pressure to pull the policy lever for an outright ban continues to mount.

A recent YouGov poll for Reset.tech, an advocacy group, across the European Union’s five most populous countries showed that adults were significantly in favor of blocking those under 16 years of age from accessing the likes of TikTok, YouTube and Instagram if these platforms did not meet the legal requirements to protect such children on their platforms.

Across France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain, at least 69 percent of those surveyed by YouGov would support a social media ban under those circumstances, according to the results shared with Tech Policy Press.

Separate research, led by Laura Edelson, a computer scientist at Northeastern University, also 

 that roughly 60 percent of child online safety features implemented by Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok failed. That included the ability for children to search for self-harm and eating disorder content, as well as for strangers to directly communicate with minors on some of these platforms despite clear safeguards against such behavior.

In response, social media giants say their child-focused online safety protections remove the vast majority of harmful content from their platforms, and that parents are given ample opportunity to control how their kids operate on these platforms.

While the drumbeat for a blanket social media ban becomes deafening, it’s still not clear Brussels will follow the likes of Paris, Madrid and Athens in pushing for such a one-size-fit-all approach. Under EU rules, national social media bans 

 their own recommendations last month that did not go as far as to call for an Australia-style moratorium for children under the age of 16.

Instead, that child online safety group urged that protections should be designed for specific platforms that were often significantly different from each other. A complete moratorium would also shift the focus onto users versus holding platforms accountable for their existing child-safety obligations under Article 28 of the EU’s Digital Services Act.

The German experts outlined multiple alternatives. That included a minimal legal age of 13 for accessing social media, followed by graduated protections as users became older, or tweaks to Europe’s existing online safety rules to restrict parts of social media for particular age groups when specific harms were present.

Both options would require strict age verification that has raised hackles within the privacy community over how such practices could potentially gather sensitive data on all social media users.

Within the European Commission, many officials would prefer this nuanced approach that imposes restrictions on how minors access parts of social media without banning them completely from these platforms. 

That is particularly important as the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights includes the right to access information — and both children and adults now rely heavily on social media to understand the world around them. Any potential social media ban for children could possibly be appealed for infringing on this basic right within the 27-country bloc.

The outstanding question, however, is whether such nuance is politically palatable for von der Leyen, who has pinned much of her reputation within digital policymaking circles about protecting children online.

Many national leaders, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Spain’s Pedro Sánchez, are adamant about pushing forward with a ban and may push back on any attempts by Brussels to water down such plans. Von der Leyen understands those priorities — and wants to make sure whatever recommendations she takes on board on July 13 can be scaled across the 27-country bloc.

“We must protect our children in the online world,” 

 the German politician in April. “And for that, we need a harmonized European approach.”

Editor's note: Tech Policy Press has received grant funding from Reset.tech.

The roundup is produced by Digital Policy Alert, an independent repository of policy changes affecting the digital economy. If you have feedback or questions, please contact 

The roundup serves as a guide for navigating global digital policy based on the work of the 

. To ensure trust, every finding links to the Digital Policy Alert entry with the official government source. The full Digital Policy Alert 

 is available for you to access, filter, and download. To stay updated, Digital Policy Alert also offers a customizable 

 that provides free updates on your areas of interest. Digital Policy Alert’s 

 further allow you to navigate, compare, and chat with the legal text of AI rules across the globe.

Drawing from the Digital Policy Alert’s daily monitoring of developments in the G20 countries, it summarizes the highlights of June 2026 in four core areas of digital policy.

Content moderation, including the European Parliament and Council's provisional agreement on the Directive on combating child sexual abuse material, the United Kingdom's announcement of planned secondary legislation prohibiting social media services for children under 16, the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court's final thesis on platform liability for third-party content under Article 19 of the Internet Civil Framework, Australia's bill strengthening enforcement of the social media minimum age, and Canada's introduction of the Digital Safety Act.

AI regulation, including the European Parliament's passage and the Council's adoption of the Digital Omnibus on AI Regulation, the European Commission's proposal for the Cloud and AI Development Act, the signature of the Pax Silica Declaration by ten additional countries, the Joint Statement on AI Opportunity by 35 countries, and the introduction of Russia's bill on supporting the development of AI technologies.

Competition policy, including the European Commission's preliminary positions that Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure should be designated as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act, the General Court's partial annulment of Meta's gatekeeper designation, and the UK Competition and Markets Authority's conduct requirements on Google in general search services.

Data governance, including Canada's House of Commons' passage of the Lawful Access Act and the introduction of the Protecting Privacy and Consumer Data Act, Saudi Arabia's Data Monetisation Policy, South Korea's KRW 624 billion fine imposed on Coupang following a large-scale data breach, and the Irish High Court's judgment upholding the EUR 530 million fine against TikTok and referring questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

and the Council reached a provisional agreement on the 

 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child sexual abuse material. The Directive introduces new criminal offenses relating to technological developments, including the design, adaptation, or distribution of AI systems intended to generate child sexual abuse material, paying to access livestreamed child sexual abuse, and the sexual extortion of children. The Council adopted 

 on preventing and combating cyber violence against girls, recommending that Member States and the European Commission take measures concerning gender-based violence online, including through 

 for online platforms and infrastructure providers.

Furthermore, the European Commission opened a consultation on draft 

 for the trusted flagger mechanism under Article 22 of the Digital Services Act and issued the State of the Digital Decade 

. Additionally, the European Commission and Brazil's National Data Protection Authority signed an 

 on the protection of children and adolescents in the digital environment.

At the judicial level, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that Member States 

may impose individual age verification measures

 on providers of pornographic content established in other Member States, while general and abstract criminal law obligations cannot be applied to such providers under the e-Commerce Directive. The CJEU also ruled that Member States 

may prohibit navigation service operators

 from rebroadcasting roadside check information and issued a judgment on jurisdiction over 

 arising from audiovisual content broadcast on television and the internet.

 amending the Code of Administrative Offenses to introduce fines for violations of the rules governing recommender systems. The bill provides for fines of up to RUB 700,000 for legal entities, and up to RUB 1.4 million for repeat violations, for failing to inform users about recommender systems, publish rules governing their use, or comply with the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media orders.

 Department for Science, Innovation and Technology announced plans for 

 under the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act that would prohibit user-to-user social media platforms from offering services to children under 16, prohibit under-16s from livestreaming, and require AI romantic companion chatbots to enforce a minimum age of 18. The Prime Minister also announced an 

 to require technology companies to implement device-level controls to prevent minors from creating, sharing, receiving, or viewing sexually explicit content, with legislation to be considered if industry implementation is insufficient.

The Office of Communications (Ofcom) published draft amended Illegal Content Codes of Practice for 

, incorporating encouraging or assisting serious self-harm and cyberflashing as priority offenses under the Online Safety Act. Ofcom also proposed 

 recommending that providers prepare protocols to manage risks arising from significant increases in illegal or harmful content during crises and maintain dedicated communication channels for law enforcement. Ofcom also published an 

 to online service providers regarding civil unrest in Belfast, recommending the implementation of the crisis protocol before the formal adoption. Furthermore, Ofcom adopted 

 on designing for media literacy and issued a 

 on the categorization impact assessment under the Online Safety Act. Finally, Ofcom fined 

 GBP 80,000 for failure to implement highly effective age assurance to prevent children from accessing pornography.

Online Safety Amendment (Strengthening Enforcement for the Social Media Minimum Age) Bill

 was introduced to the House of Representatives. The bill expands the eSafety Commissioner's information-gathering powers to cover age assurance providers and app store providers and increases the maximum penalty for systematic breaches from AUD 49.5 million to AUD 99 million. The eSafety Commissioner issued an 

 on safety by design obligations to combat sextortion, highlighting measures including language analysis, classifier tools and removal of image-based abuse material. The Digital Platform Regulators Forum adopted a 

, the eSafety Commissioner confirmed that 

 withdrew from the Australian market following its investigation into their age assurance measures. The Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) filed a lawsuit against 

 over alleged unfair contract terms related to the introduction of advertising to Prime Video, confirmed that 

 paid fines of AUD 59,400 and AUD 79,200, respectively, over misleading pricing claims, and issued an AUD 19,800 infringement notice to 

 over misleading advertising. Lastly, the ACCC issued takedown requests to 

 over listings of banned magnet toys and announced that Temu and Gumtree joined the 

, the National Cybersecurity Standardization Technical Committee (TC260) opened consultations on 

 for the security of applications involving minors in cybersecurity and AI technologies and on a 

 on security testing and evaluation methods for critical information infrastructure. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) consulted on a 

 on technical requirements for industrial knowledge intelligent computing on industrial internet platforms.

 on the management of in-app information windows, prohibiting deceptive or misleading prompts such as shake-activated redirects and requiring companies to conduct self-inspections. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) and other departments interviewed 

 over misleading promotion and the unlawful collection of information.

, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued an order restricting access to 

 to prevent alleged fraud and misinformation during a national examination period. Additionally, the High Court of Delhi dismissed Telegram's petition challenging the order. The Central Consumer Protection Authority also fined 

 INR 500,000 over the deployment of dark patterns.

 under the Ministerial Regulation on Child Protection in Electronic Systems came into force. Furthermore, the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs confirmed that electronic system providers, including 

 submitted self-assessment results on age verification measures. Further, 

 deactivated 4.1 million child accounts, and 

 removed 600,000 child accounts and launched a digital well-being guidebook in compliance with child protection obligations. The Ministry also issued 

 on online gambling-related bot activity targeting social media comment sections.

, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications published a 

 recommending measures for youth protection in online environments, including default protection measures for young users, strengthened age verification beyond self-declaration, and mandatory requirements for operating system vendors. The Ministry also opened a consultation on a 

 addressing issues in information distribution in the digital space.

, several bills amending the Network Act on the 

decriminalization of true-fact defamation

 were introduced to the National Assembly. Further bills address 

platform operators' liability for hazardous products

Additionally, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) adopted an 

 to its guidelines on reviewing labeling and advertising, requiring the disclosure of AI-generated virtual persons used in recommendations and endorsements. Additionally, the Communications Commission and other ministries signed a 

 on technical cooperation for deepfake sexual crime response, and the Broadcasting Media and Communications Commission announced the establishment of an 

AI crime response inter-agency consultative body

 on illegal filming materials, including sexual deepfake videos and child sexual exploitation materials, covering 83 operators, including Naver, Kakao, Google, and Meta. Regarding enforcement, the FTC rejected an application by 

 to resolve its investigation into misleading advertising of delivery times through consent decree proceedings and fined 

 KRW 10 million over consumer protection violations in airline ticket sales.

, the Supreme Federal Court concluded its review of platform liability for third-party content under 

Article 19 of the Internet Civil Framework

, holding that the provision is partially unconstitutional. The Court ruled that user-generated content platforms may be held jointly liable for unlawful third-party content in certain cases without a prior court order, including for paid advertisements, algorithmically amplified content, and specified serious criminal content, if they fail to comply with removal obligations. The decision also requires providers to implement self-regulation measures, complaint mechanisms, annual transparency reports, and appoint a legal representative in Brazil. The ruling applies prospectively from August 5, 2025, with providers given 60 days to comply with the new structural obligations.

Regarding enforcement, the National Data Protection Authority began monitoring 

app stores, and operating system providers

 for compliance with age verification and age assurance requirements under the Digital Statute of Children and Adolescents and launched a 

, the Digital Safety Act was introduced to the House of Commons, including 

. The Act would require social media operators to make child sexual abuse material and non-consensual intimate images inaccessible in Canada within 24 hours, submit digital safety plans, and, for AI chatbot operators, publish user guidelines on mitigating harmful content and addressing users expressing suicidal ideation. The accompanying 

 would establish the enforcement authority. Separately, the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture directed the Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to review its 

Canadian programming expenditure framework

At the Second Pax Silica Summit, ten additional jurisdictions, including the European Union, Germany, and Argentina, signed the 

, bringing the total number of signatories to 24. The Declaration provides for cooperation across the AI supply chain and coordination on measures concerning sensitive technologies. At the same summit, 35 jurisdictions signed the 

, setting out shared principles on AI governance, cooperation on AI supply chains, and access to AI computing resources.

 Parliament passed, and the Council of the European Union subsequently adopted, the Digital Omnibus on AI Regulation. The Regulation clarifies the 

 for supervising AI systems based on general-purpose AI models, extends its enforcement powers to AI systems embedded in very large online platforms and search engines, expands access to 

, including an EU-level sandbox, and extends SME exemptions to small mid-cap enterprises. The Regulation also amends the AI Act's 

 requirements for high-risk AI systems, the 

legal basis for processing special categories of personal data for bias detection

The European Commission submitted a proposal for the Cloud and AI Development Act. The proposal introduces four Union assurance levels with cumulative 

 for cloud computing services to be recognized as providing sovereignty assurance, verified through self-assessment or independent third-party audits, alongside 

 on the marking and labeling of AI-generated content under Article 50 of the AI Act and established the 

. Additionally, the Commission closed its call for evidence on the 

review of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive

Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in the Energy Sector

 implementing the EU AI Act. It designates the Federal Network Agency as the primary AI market surveillance authority, while assigning financial sector oversight to the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority. It also requires the establishment of at least one AI regulatory sandbox by 2 August 2026.

 on supporting the development of AI technologies was introduced to the State Duma. It establishes a governance framework for large foundation AI models, including government powers to determine state support measures, mandate the use of sovereign or national models in specific cases, and set risk prevention requirements. The bill also includes 

. Separately, the State Duma rejected a bill on the 

mandatory labeling of AI-generated video materials

. Finally, Russia and Vietnam announced a 

, a supervised testing environment for AI applications in legal services.

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued 

 on the development of AI in the information and communications sector, setting out measures relating to telecommunications, AI infrastructure, sectoral applications, and governance. MIIT also opened a consultation on a 

list of selected typical cases of AI applications

, including Huawei Cloud's ModelArts platform for large model industrialization, Baidu's PaddlePaddle deep learning framework, and humanoid and embodied intelligence robot applications from firms such as UBTECH and Leju Intelligent.

, the Ministry of Communications established a 

 to coordinate AI standardization activities and to support India's participation in international AI standardization processes. Further, the Prime Minister issued a 

on ensuring the safe, rapid, and efficient rollout of AI, "proposing the promotion of safe-by-design AI systems, developing common standards, testing frameworks, and regulatory sandboxes, and strengthening global cooperation against deepfakes, misinformation, and cyber fraud. India concluded agreements with 

 covering AI, the Internet of Things, and machine-to-machine applications, and with 

 for the procurement and utilization of generative AI in government administration, requiring contracted vendors to meet obligations including incident response procedures, data handling and quality controls, and security measures against prompt injection and denial-of-service attacks.

, three bills amending the Framework Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence were introduced to the National Assembly. The 

 addresses the use of non-personal training data in AI development. The 

 expands the Act's category of AI vulnerable groups to include children and adolescents. The 

 establishes a dedicated governance framework to promote and support the development of physical AI. Additionally, the Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology consulted on an 

 to the Enforcement Decree of the Framework Act, which defines AI-vulnerable groups and establishes an AI product and service verification system for public procurement.

 opened consultations on proposed regulations on 

. The proposals would require multimodal booking services to display products neutrally and online rail ticketing platforms to host products on non-discriminatory terms. The Commission also submitted the proposal for the 

, including measures on eligibility for state aid-compatible support for European semiconductor technology initiatives.

Regarding enforcement, the Commission adopted interim measures requiring 

 to restore and maintain free access to the WhatsApp for Business API for rival general-purpose AI assistants until the conclusion of its investigation. The Commission found that Meta's fee-based access policy was equivalent to an access ban and posed a risk of harm to competition in the AI assistant market.

The Commission reached the preliminary position that 

 should be designated as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) based on their cloud computing services. Further, at the judicial level, the General Court of the European Union issued a ruling partially annulling the 

 under the DMA. The Court upheld the designation of Facebook Messenger as a standalone core platform service but annulled the designation of Facebook Marketplace, finding that the Commission had applied an incorrect legal time frame and had not adequately explained why Marketplace still qualified as an online intermediation service following listing restrictions implemented in 2023.

Competition Authority opened an investigation into 

 over alleged violations of the DMA's interoperability provisions. The Authority will investigate whether Apple ensures that third-party consumer cloud providers have free and effective interoperability with iOS and iPadOS on equal terms with Apple’s iCloud. The investigation was opened following complaints submitted in April 2025 and subsequent complaints. The Authority's findings will be shared with the European Commission to support its role as the sole enforcer of the DMA.

 Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) imposed conduct requirements on Google following its strategic market status designation in general search services. The 

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