Europe’s scramble to police teen social media use is accelerating, and Ireland is under pressure to decide how far it will go. As Spain, France, Denmark, Greece and Portugal push national age limits — and Australia touts the impact of its world-first under-16s ban — Dublin is drafting a PPS-based age verification system that has already triggered sharp privacy and legal pushback.
Spain became the latest EU country to propose restrictions this month. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez vowed to “ban access to social media for minors under the age of 16,” insisting platforms implement “real barriers that work,” not simple checkboxes. The draft plan would also expose tech executives to criminal liability for failing to remove illegal or hateful content. The proposal sparked a furious response from X owner Elon Musk, who branded Sánchez a “tyrant and traitor,” and faces political hurdles given the government’s lack of a parliamentary majority. The UK, meanwhile, has launched a consultation on whether to impose its own under-16s ban.
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Australia, whose national prohibition took effect in December, says the policy is delivering results. The government reports that more than 4.7 million accounts belonging to under-16s have been deactivated or removed since the rules began. Meta told Australia’s ABC that it removed 173,000 Facebook users and 330,000 Instagram accounts, while Snapchat said it locked or disabled more than 415,000. Officials cite those numbers as proof the ban is “working.” Yet the reality looks messier: teens who opened accounts with false dates of birth say many survived the purge, and others claim they regained suspended access by gaming photo ID checks. A burst in VPN downloads preceded the rollout, though experts note most major platforms can detect and neutralize VPN evasion.
In Ireland, Communications Minister Patrick O’Donovan says he will bring a memo to Cabinet next month on a new age verification regime built around a state-backed “digital wallet.” The system would verify age using a person’s PPS number, with a third party — not the platforms — handling the data. “What we’re trying to do here is protect children, and there should be no right trumping the right of a child to be protected online,” he said, while criticizing the lack of EU-wide progress on age checks as “regrettable.”
That approach faces formidable legal and civil liberties headwinds. Campaigners warn that an Australia-style social media ban could clash with EU treaties and rights charters by excluding a group solely on the basis of age. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties and Digital Rights Ireland have called any state-run digital identity checks a disproportionate step that veers toward authoritarianism, arguing that forcing people to hand over sensitive personal data for basic internet access is a risk too far. They back measures such as default “off” for algorithmic feeds, stronger restrictions on targeting and profiling, and tougher advertising rules aimed at reducing harm without sweeping bans.
The political backdrop is fraught. Ireland hosts the European headquarters of TikTok, Meta, X and Google, which are major employers and corporate tax contributors. Critics regularly accuse the government of going soft on enforcement because of Big Tech’s economic footprint. The tensions surfaced in the Dáil this week when People Before Profit–Solidarity TD Paul Murphy accused the state of looking the other way as X’s Grok AI tool could generate sexualized deepfakes of adults and children — an allegation that drew an angry rebuke from the Taoiseach, who called the claims “reprehensible and shocking.”
At the Oireachtas Media Committee, executives from Meta, TikTok and Google fielded questions on age verification; X declined to appear, a decision the committee chair Alan Kelly called “disgraceful and disrespectful.” Meta reiterated its preference for age checks at the app store level and endorsed creating a “Digital Age of Majority” across the EU so parents can decide which apps their children may use. TikTok said a multi-layered age assurance approach is needed and pledged to roll out enhanced technology in Europe in the coming weeks to help its moderators detect and remove accounts that belong to users under 13.
Regulators in Brussels are moving in parallel under the Digital Services Act, which imposes heavy obligations on major platforms to mitigate systemic risks. Days after the Irish hearing, the European Commission issued preliminary findings accusing TikTok of “addictive design” practices that could harm minors and vulnerable adults, and said the company committed multiple DSA violations. TikTok rejected the claims as “categorically false and entirely meritless,” vowing to challenge them “through every means available.”
The EU’s more aggressive regulatory posture has reignited transatlantic friction. In Washington, Republicans allied with former President Donald Trump accuse Brussels of trying to censor American companies. The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Jim Jordan, published a report, “The Foreign Censorship Threat Part II,” alleging EU regulators — including Coimisiún na Meán — suppress online content ahead of elections. The European Commission dismissed the charge as “pure nonsense” and “completely unfounded.” At a subsequent hearing, Irish lawyer Lorcan Price described the DSA as the “tip of a massive censorship industrial complex,” claiming recent fines against X proved the EU intends to “strangle free speech.” Comedy writer Graham Linehan also testified, urging U.S. pressure on Dublin over gender recognition laws — an illustration of how online speech battles are bleeding into broader cultural fights.
For policymakers, the central question remains whether bans and identity-based gates can meaningfully reduce harm without pushing teens toward darker corners of the internet. Australia’s early metrics suggest platforms can purge large numbers of underage accounts at speed, but the durability of those removals — and the ingenuity of young users — is still uncertain. Even the most robust age gating struggles against forged birthdays, shared accounts and the speed at which new identities can be created.
Ireland’s PPS-linked “digital wallet” proposal would be a test case for the EU: a national system built to verify age while attempting to keep personal data out of platform hands. Success will depend on airtight data minimization, strict oversight of any third-party verifier, and legal clarity on appeals and redress. Politically, the government also faces scrutiny over its willingness to confront industry, from compelling attendance at Oireachtas committees to enforcing DSA risk-mitigation plans through Coimisiún na Meán.
Next week’s Safer Internet Day will underscore how fast the landscape keeps shifting. In the two decades since it launched, the smartphone, social media and now generative AI have transformed the horizons — and hazards — of childhood online. Lawmakers are again racing to catch up. By the time any Irish bill clears the Dáil, fresh risks will likely have emerged.
Yet the immediate choices are clear. Dublin can proceed with a national age verification regime or wait for an EU-wide framework. It can target algorithmic amplification and ads by default, or pursue outright age-based bans that will be tested in court. It can demand more from platforms or rely on app stores to police access. Whatever path Ireland takes will reverberate beyond its borders, shaping how Europe balances child safety with privacy and free expression in the social media era.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
