Age assurance has moved from the margins of online safety policy to its centre. At William Fry, our technology team is closely tracking a fast-moving space in which European governments are no longer asking only how platforms should protect children online, but also whether children should be allowed on certain platforms at all. Three developments in recent weeks capture the shift: France has legislated to keep under-15s off social media, the UK has set out plans for age-based restrictions and overnight curfews for teenagers, and the European Commission is now preparing to legislate itself, shifting from risk management towards restricting access.

For any business offering digital services in Europe, the direction of travel is unmistakable, but the destinations are not yet aligned. Divergent national timelines and standards are emerging faster than the EU can harmonise them. This raises an obvious question closer to home: where does all of this leave Ireland, and what stance might it take? We look at each development in turn, and then at how Ireland is likely to respond.

France goes first: a ban on under-15s

France has become the first EU Member State to legislate a hard age floor for social media. The measure, a private member’s bill (the proposition de loi tabled by MP Laure Miller to protect minors from the risks of social media use), establishes a “digital majority” at 15 (Bill). What makes it striking is not only its ambition but also the fact that it breaks with the EU’s preferred route of harmonising platform regulation through the Digital Services Act (DSA) and common age-assurance tools, instead opting for a national ban.

On 21 July 2026, the French Parliament approved the Bill [GN1.1]restricting social media access for under-15s. The measure passed with substantial support across both chambers, driven by mounting concern over youth mental health, cyberbullying and excessive screen time.

Since social media platforms are already regulated under the DSA, which seeks to harmonise online platform regulation across the EU, France had to notify the Commission before passing the Bill. In a detailed opinion issued on 6 July 2026, the Commission welcomed stronger protections for minors and accepted that Member States may set minimum age requirements. However, it warned that parts of the Bill encroached on the DSA framework, in particular, provisions handing enforcement powers to ARCOM, France’s audiovisual and digital regulator, and the risk of fragmenting the EU’s common rulebook. Amendments were made before the Bill  received final parliamentary approval.

Supporters see the measure as a necessary line in the sand. Critics question whether it can be enforced at all, pointing out that the final text shed key enforcement mechanisms after the EC’s review. Others have flagged the privacy implications of large-scale age verification and whether a blanket ban can be squared with constitutionally protected rights, including privacy and freedom of expression.

President Emmanuel Macron wants the first stage in place for the start of the school year: age checks on new accounts from 1 September 2026, with existing under-15 accounts to be closed from 1 January 2027. Before any of that takes effect, the Bill must still clear a final review by France’s Constitutional Council.

The UK: age limits and overnight curfews

The UK is charting its own course, with plans to bar certain social media services from being offered to under-16s from Spring 2027. Modelled on Australia’s approach, the regime is expected to target platforms including Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and X. The first set of regulations is expected to be introduced before Parliament by the end of 2026.

The plans, set out by the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, go well beyond a straight ban. The UK Government also intends to curb high-risk features, such as livestreaming and contact with strangers, across a wider range of services. It also intends to add safeguards for 16- and 17-year-olds, including default overnight curfews and switching off autoplay and personalised feeds.

As the details firm up, regulatory attention is likely to turn to whether age-assurance measures actually work. In its Use of Age Assurance Report 2026, Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, raised concerns about some platforms’ reliance on age inference systems, warning that they may miss significant numbers of child users and stressing the need for robust age assurance. The UK Government has echoed this, confirming that stronger age-assurance requirements will underpin the new regime and asking Ofcom to define what counts as effective age assurance for confirming whether a user is over 16. Ofcom is due to deliver that assessment to Parliament in October 2026, and it is expected to shape the debate on the under-16 rules.

The European Commission: from risk management to restriction

To date, the EU has leaned on platform accountability, risk mitigation and transparency under the DSA rather than outright bans. Article 28 of the DSA requires platforms accessible to minors to safeguard children’s safety, privacy, and security, and the Commission is developing both an EU age-verification solution and a broader age-assurance framework.

However, the mood is shifting decisively. On 13 July 2026, the Special Panel on Child Safety Online published its report, recommending a harmonised EU-wide minimum age of 13 for social media. The same day, the EC’s President, Ursula von der Leyen, said the Commission would review the panel’s recommendations before presenting legislative proposals after the summer. That takes the debate beyond how platforms manage risk and towards the question France has already answered for itself: whether access should be withheld until children reach a set age, and if so, what that age should be. Coupled with the EC’s work on stronger age-verification tools and the prospect of an EU-wide “digital age of majority”, the direction of travel at the EU level is now unmistakable.

So, where does this leave Ireland?

For now, Ireland has resisted the temptation to legislate a ban of its own. It relies instead on the DSA and Coimisiún na Meán’s Online Safety Code, which, since July 2025, has required Ireland-based video-sharing platforms to use age assurance to keep children away from pornography and gratuitous violence, treating self-declaration alone as ineffective.

That posture is set out most clearly in the National Digital & AI Strategy (February 2026), which we considered previously here. It gives the clearest signal yet of Ireland’s thinking: any minimum age, or “digital age of majority”, should ideally be set at EU level in cooperation with other Member States, though the strategy leaves the door open for Ireland to act domestically if it judges that necessary. The preference for an EU-level solution is deliberate. Since online platforms already fall under the DSA’s common framework, a purely national ban risks cutting across it, as France’s exchange with the Commission illustrates. 

In the meantime, Ireland is quietly building the infrastructure that future age-verification measures will need, including a national Digital Wallet aligned with the European Digital Identity (EUDI) framework. Its precise role is still to be defined, but it could let users present verified proof of age securely and in a privacy-preserving way.

Key considerations for legal and compliance teams

For legal, compliance, and trust and safety teams, the immediate task is to keep pace. Age assurance standards, implementation timelines and regulatory expectations now differ from one jurisdiction to the next. Horizon scanning and early engagement with regulators will only grow in importance as national approaches develop alongside EU-level initiatives.

More broadly, any organisation whose services are accessible to minors should expect sustained scrutiny of its child-safety governance, age-assurance processes and wider compliance arrangements.

What businesses should do now

The question is no longer only how platforms protect children online, but increasingly whether children should reach certain services at all. For digital businesses, age assurance is fast becoming a regulatory expectation rather than a design choice, and the time to prepare is now.

Rachel Hayes is a partner and Laura Casey is a senior associate at William Fry LLP