Denmark set to ban social media for children under 15

It's the latest country to make the move

The nation becomes the latest in a string of countries choosing to restrict social media access to children, concerned of its ramifications on the younger generation.

Both Australia and Norway have plans to restrict access for young people to the likes of Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, while others like France and Spain are considering taking action too.

The new law was announced yesterday by Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark, who accused phones and social media of "stealing our children's childhood".

She added that "we have unleashed a monster" in reference to social media, claiming that many children now struggled with reading and concentration and mentioned how rates of anxiety and depression amongst young people have gone up rapidly.

The UK has previously toyed with the idea of banning social media for under 16s, notably with a petition set up in December 2024 to introduce such measure which reached 132k signatures.

The matter was debated in parliament in February of this year.

The government's response to the petition read: "The government is aware of the ongoing debate as to what age children should have smartphones and access to social media. The government is not currently minded to support a ban for children under 16."

Rather than banning social media for children, the government brought in the Online Safety Act in July of this year with the objective of preventing children accessing adult content online.

This act in itself has experienced backlash, seeing over 500k signatures on a petition to repeal the act.

The government's response read: "The Government is working with Ofcom to ensure that online in-scope services are subject to robust but proportionate regulation through the effective implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023."