Cyprus intends to bring legislation setting a minimum age for social media use before Parliament in December, the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Dr Nikodimos Damianou, told CNA. The bill proposes 15as the minimum age below which access to social media platforms would not be permitted, with age verification built into the country's Digital Citizen platform.
Setting the limit is one thing, enforcing it is another
Damianou distinguished between deciding on an age threshold, something a number of countries are already doing, and actually making it work in practice. Platforms, he said, will need to implement mechanisms capable of confirming a user is above the set age limit without storing additional personal data, with the legislation defining exactly what responsibility falls on the platforms themselves.
He said he expects the law to give platforms a grace period of several months to adapt, during which, based on precedents in other countries, they would also need to run existing users through the same age-verification check, to catch those who signed up before such mechanisms existed.
Cyprus won't be going it alone
Damianou pointed to the European Commission's proposed "EU Age Verification Blueprint", a mechanism Cyprus is helping shape and intends to build into its own Digital Citizen system. He said this collective European approach carries far more weight with platforms than any single country acting alone, since non-compliance would trigger provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The government is also watching the EU Kids Act, unveiled by the President of the European Commission this week, to see how much room it leaves member states to set their own national thresholds. Under the Commission's proposal, as Damianou described it, children under 13 would have no social media access at all, those aged 13–15 would get a restricted "mini account" with limited functions and screen time, and 15–18 year-olds would see platforms required to serve them age-appropriate content, an approach he called "complex" for platforms to implement.
From a handful of voices to a European consensus
Damianou noted a striking shift in tone at EU level. A year ago, he said, few member states were pushing for restrictions on social media use by minors. But growing concern over algorithm-driven, addictive platform design has changed that, particularly over the last six months, a period that coincided with Cyprus holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU, during which, he said, almost the whole of Europe moved towards backing legislative action.
What happens between now and December
Before the bill reaches Parliament, the government will run a public consultation through the "Voice of the Citizen" platform, alongside targeted consultation with organised groups. An impact assessment will also be carried out by the Commissioner for Children's Rights to examine the scientific dimension of the issue. Damianou said these processes will run alongside the drafting of the legislation and will feed into its final form, along with any further clarity from Brussels on the EU Kids Act.
"The government has kept to what it said at the start of the year," Damianou said, "that it is moving with determination and dynamic intent to set some limits and put this very serious issue on the table."
