Norway Plans to Ban Social Media for Children Under 16 and Shift Age Verification Liability to Platforms
April 24, 2026 – 6:50 am
The minority Labour government, led by PM Jonas Gahr Støre, announced the legislation on Friday. The age threshold has been raised from the 15-year limit proposed in the 2025 consultation, aligning Norway with Australia’s world-first ban that came into force in December. Ireland is also considering similar legislation.
Norway’s minority Labour government announced on Friday that it will introduce legislation to prohibit children under the age of 16 from using social media, and will place responsibility for age verification on the technology companies operating those platforms. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre framed the proposal in terms of reclaiming childhood from algorithmic influence.
“We are introducing this legislation because we want a childhood where children get to be children,” he said.
“Play, friendships, and everyday life must not be taken over by algorithms and screens. This is an important measure to safeguard children’s digital lives.”
The bill will be introduced to parliament by the end of 2026.
The announcement marks a significant escalation from the government’s own prior legislative position. When Norway submitted its social media age limit bill for public consultation in June 2025, the proposed threshold was 15, not 16. That consultation drew more than 8,000 submissions, reflecting what Digitalisation Minister Karianne Tung described at the time as a high level of public engagement. The government has now reviewed that feedback and has moved the age threshold up by one year, aligning Norway with Australia rather than with the EU’s GDPR minimum age of 13 for data processing consent.
The comparison with Australia is central to the Norwegian government’s framing. Australia’s social media ban for under-16s, the first of its kind in the world, came into force in December 2025. By February 2026, Australian authorities reported that more than 4.7 million accounts belonging to under-16 users had been deactivated or removed since the restrictions began. That enforcement record, however imperfect, has provided the first real-world data point on whether a legislative ban can produce measurable platform compliance.
Norway is watching closely. Digitalisation Minister Tung had previously told MLex that age verification “needs Europe to work in step,” noting that any effective system would require coordination across borders to prevent circumvention via VPN or cross-border access.