Teenagers under the age of 15 should not be allowed to use social media  because it is addictive and affecting their sleep and school performance, says the Dutch Liberal democratic party D66.

“Tech giants are harming children’s health because social media channels have been designed to be extremely addictive,” D66 MP Hanneke van der Werff told RTL Nieuws. ‘We must do something about this and parents too are asking for help.”

D66 would like the Netherlands and the rest of Europe to follow in the footsteps of Australia which just imposed a ban on social media use by teens younger than 15. European countries such as Germany and France are also contemplating a minimum age of 15. “We want to do this at a European level”, Van der Werff said.

Research has shown that children’s development and mental health can be severely affected by social media and the algorithms make children vulnerable, Van der Werff said. “They are constantly online and it is keeping them awake, affecting their concentration and school work. And it harms their self-image. It has to stop,” she said.

According to youth and media professor Patti Valkenburg research from 2020 showed some 10% of children are harmed by social media. “That number is only going up,” she said. Girls, in particular, are affected by what they see on social media. “Their self-confidence plummets,” Valkenburg said.

Most social media platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram already have an age limit of 13 but children can simply circumvent this rule by pretending they are older.

Valkenburg said that instead of introducing new rules, companies would be forced to keep to the limit of 13 already in place. “It’s the policing of that limit which is failing,” she said.

Van der Werff said tech companies should be made to develop a “watertight age verification system”.

Private communications platform Whatsapp, which does not use addictive algorithms and does not track surfing behaviour, would be exempt from the minimum age.

MPs will debate the D66 proposal this week.