Portugal advances bill to restrict minors’ access to social media

Portugal took a major step on Thursday toward restricting minors' access to social media, as lawmakers approved a bill that would require parental authorization for users ages 13 to 16 and bar all children under 13 from signing up.

The center-right coalition government secured Socialist support to advance the measure in parliament's initial general debate, sending the text to committee for detailed scrutiny and amendments before a final vote.

Backers framed the bill as a child-protection measure aimed at reducing harms linked to heavy and unsupervised platform use by minors, including bullying, anxiety, addictive behavior and other mental health risks.

The access limits would apply to social networks such as Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, but not messaging services like WhatsApp.

Tech platforms would also be required to guarantee effective age verification in line with EU rules and provide protections against harmful content, including exposure to violence, early sexual material, addictive games and manipulated videos or images where users ages 13 to 16 could be present after receiving parental consent.

Socialists have pushed to expand the full ban to those under 16. The current law in Portugal sets the age of digital consent at 13.

- Rebuked by the far right

The proposal drew sharp opposition from the far-right Chega party, which voted against it alongside the smaller right-wing Liberal Initiative.

Chega leader Andre Ventura denounced the bill as "digital Stalinism" and accused the mainstream parties of trying to reassert control over the public debate online.

"This is not about freedom, it's about controlling minds and the future," Ventura said, criticizing a provision that would allow a public administrative body to suspend access to a platform's service nationwide.

Chega lawmakers also attacked language that would place greater responsibility on platforms to remove false content, arguing it opens the door to censorship. "But who decides what is false?" asked Chega lawmaker Rita Matias, one of the party's most prominent figures on social media.

Socialist lawmaker Sofia Pereira pushed back, calling Chega "the party that promotes hate and fake news."

The Liberal Initiative argued the proposal undermines privacy and would create broad surveillance.

The move follows similar initiatives abroad. Australia last year introduced a ban on social media for under-16s, while several European countries, including France, Spain, Denmark and Italy, are considering or implementing similar measures.