Austria’s Vice Chancellor and Media Minister Andreas Babler (SPÖ) has announced plans to introduce a comprehensive draft law by summer aimed at restricting children’s and adolescents’ access to social media platforms, according to Kleine Zeitung. The proposed Social Media Order Act is intended to provide stronger protection for young people from harmful online content, while imposing significantly stricter obligations and penalties on platform operators.
Central to the legislation is the introduction of a legally binding minimum age for the use of popular platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Although the exact age limit has not yet been determined, Babler emphasized that the issue enjoys broad support across both government circles and the wider public. He underlined Austria’s determination to act independently should progress at the European Union level stall. “Children and adolescents deserve special protection during a formative stage of their lives, when they are most vulnerable and searching for guidance,” Babler said.
The proposed law is expected to include tough sanctions for companies that fail to comply, drawing on the framework of the EU’s Digital Services Act, which allows fines of up to six percent of a company’s global annual turnover. These penalties would particularly target platforms that rely heavily on algorithmic systems to distribute and amplify content. In addition, the scope of the legislation would extend to digital chat environments that enable direct contact between adults and minors, in a bid to reduce the risks of abuse and manipulation.
A further pillar of the reform agenda is increased transparency in the operation of algorithms, which Babler described as powerful tools shaping public discourse and individual perceptions. He argued that social media platforms do more than merely provide technical infrastructure: they actively curate content and therefore must be subject to regulatory standards comparable to those governing traditional media such as television and radio.
Alongside regulatory measures, the government plans to significantly strengthen media literacy among young people. Babler labeled media education a “core element of democratic resilience” in an era increasingly shaped by digital communication. Proposed initiatives include free access to high-quality journalistic content for adolescents and expanded funding for media education programs. Both measures, he said, should be implemented as swiftly as possible.
