Poland Social Media Age Limit Draft Targets Under-15s

The Poland social media age limit is officially on the table: the government has published a draft law that would keep anyone under fifteen off platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. The project comes from the digital affairs and education ministries and was posted on the government's legislative work list this week.

For Gen Z readers, this is the kind of rule that changes how a whole generation grows up online. Poland would join a growing list of countries that want to move the minimum age above the thirteen that most apps already print in their terms of service.

What the draft actually says

According to Bankier.pl, citing PAP Biznes, the project states that access to online social networks would be possible only after a person turns fifteen. The authors say the goal is to set a minimum age of fifteen and to spell out the possible ways of checking it.

The ministries admit that most platforms already set a minimum age of thirteen in their rules, yet younger children use them anyway. That gap between the written rule and real life is the core of the argument for a national law.

The planned date for the Council of Ministers to adopt the project is the first quarter of next year. So nothing changes tomorrow, and the text can still be reshaped before it reaches parliament.

How would age checks work?

The hardest question with any age limit is proof. Reporting by Do Rzeczy says the draft names three routes: the European digital identity wallet, a special service inside the mObywatel government app, or other certified systems that meet the European eIDAS regulation.

The drafters stress that these tools would pass along only a yes or no on the required age, without revealing personal details such as a name. Supervision would sit with the head of the Office of Electronic Communications, and the digital minister would keep a list of trusted verification solutions from Poland and other EU countries.

That privacy promise will be tested. Critics of age checks elsewhere often argue that any verification system risks becoming a database of who uses what, so the details of the Polish design will matter a lot.

It is not only a ban

The second pillar of the project is education. Do Rzeczy reports that school curricula, from kindergarten up, would add topics such as digital hygiene, online safety, privacy, cyberbullying, disinformation, radicalization and addiction to social media and games.

The education minister would also be able to fund public information campaigns, run by schools, nonprofits, scout groups, research institutes and cultural institutions. The idea is to help kids whose parents may not feel confident about tech to still get the basics.

Why now: pressure on Big Tech

The timing is not random. Poland has been leaning hard on platforms in recent days. Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski criticised social networks for how they respond to reports from the research institute NASK, and demanded Polish-language moderation teams, faster removal of fake account networks and better appeals, as reported by Szczecinski Portal. He also floated fines that could reach tens of millions of zloty or euros.

Separately, the Polish parliament has wrapped up work on laws that implement the EU Digital Services Act, which names the telecoms regulator as the national coordinator. So the age limit would land in a country already building new tools to police platforms.

The bigger European picture

Poland is not alone in testing how far a government can go in shaping teen screen time. Several European governments have talked about raising minimum ages, and the EU is pushing shared age verification tools that every member state could plug into. A Polish rule built on the European identity wallet would fit neatly into that bigger plan.

The open question is enforcement. Platforms would have to block under-fifteens without collecting extra personal data, and regulators would need the muscle to fine apps that look the other way. Teens, meanwhile, are famously good at finding loopholes, from borrowed accounts to VPNs, so lawmakers will have to show the system works in practice and not only on paper.

What it means for you

If the Poland social media age limit survives the legislative process, Polish teens under fifteen would need to wait for their accounts, and platforms would have to plug into government-approved age checks. Supporters see a shield for kids; skeptics worry about privacy and about teens simply finding workarounds.

Either way, the debate is spreading across Europe. Follow our tech coverage and our world desk for the next steps, because a draft is only the first chapter.