EU Commissioner Michael McGrath has said that he agrees with age-appropriate social media restrictions for children and teenagers rather than an outright ban.
Speaking to RTÉ News in Washington, Mr McGrath said the decision to limit access to social media for young people across the 27-member bloc is expected in the autumn.
It follows a report from an expert panel on child safety that under-13s should only be allowed to use social media for limited periods under the supervision of parents, caregivers and teachers.
The restrictions would then be lifted gradually as teenagers got older.
“There would be additional more onerous obligations on social media companies to ensure that their service is safe for children of that age and so it’s a graduated age-related approach is what they have recommended, rather than an outright ban up to the age of 16,” Mr McGrath said.
“I do think overall it is better to have a coordinated EU-wide approach to the regulation of social media and to that question of what is what is an appropriate age for access to social media, and indeed what is the appropriate system of regulation.
“And we know many member states have come forward with different initiatives, but most have indicated a preference for an EU-wide approach, and that is what we will be working towards in the autumn,” he added.
He said that one of the questions the European Commission needs to address surrounds enforcement.
“At the moment, we have the Digital Services Act, for example, which sets out the digital rulebook that does provide for financial penalties in the form of fines.
“We’re not yet at the stage of making decisions about the precise legislative instrument that will be used to implement the commission decision in relation to social media and young people.
“But that is one question, and the one of enforcement and how we ensure that our rules are implemented is one that will fall to be considered as part of that,” he said.
Mr McGrath is in Washington DC this week for talks on EU-US cooperation online safety for children, competitiveness and consumer and data protection.
It comes as the Trump administration’s temporary replacement for reciprocal tariffs, which were overturned by the US Supreme Court last year, expires on Friday.
When asked if the European Commission had any update on this, Mr McGrath said that it is in ongoing contact with its counterparts in the US in relation to the full implementation of the trade agreement that it entered into.
“It is now pretty much a year on from the Turnberry Agreement. There has been some turbulence since then,” he said.
“We are fully and faithfully implementing our obligations on the EU side, and we have been given full reassurance from the US administration that they are fully committed to the Turnberry Agreement and will ensure that the all-in tariff rate of no more than 15% is applied in respect of EU exports to the US.”