Austria will ban social networks for children under 14 years of age and will reinforce education with AI and democracy classes

The Minister of Education, the liberal Christoph Wiederkehrassured in a press conference in Vienna that the objective is to guarantee with this measure a “healthy and full childhood.”

“We know that social networks create addiction and they have massive effects on mental healthal of children and young people. Therefore, there is a total commitment to an age restriction,” he said.

New subjects

Wiederkehr specified that this ban – which should come into force this year – will be accompanied by a expansion of teaching in subjects like media, democracy, computing and artificial intelligence.

The new subjects will be taught starting with the 2027/28 school year, for when some Latin classes will be cut and, in certain schools, also the second foreign language (other than English), which in Austria is usually French, Spanish or Italian.

The package of measures presented was described by the minister as “a comprehensive concept” that strengthens families and children, so that they can “interact with social networks autonomously and consciously.”

“Why “Social networks not only bring dangers but also opportunities.”concluyó return.

For his part, the Secretary of State for Digitalization, the Christian Democrat Alexander Pröll, explained that to determine the age of users, “modern verification methods that, at the same time, protect privacy” will be applied.

“This means that the age can be confirmed without the need to reveal personal data” to social media platforms, the Austrian government representative said.

Austria joins with this initiative other European countries, such as Spain, France, Greece and the United Kingdom, which are also drafting laws to prohibit the use of social networks until the age of 14, 15 or 16.