More than 150 organisations have joined a new European coalition aiming to develop social media platforms that offer an alternative to major technology companies, as governments across the region face legal and practical challenges in restricting children’s access to existing services.
The European Social Association was launched in Berlin on Wednesday to coordinate the development of open, decentralised social networks under European control. Its members include Mastodon and other organisations supporting community-run digital platforms.
The initiative comes as Australia’s world-first ban on social media accounts for children under 16 faces a legal challenge. Reddit and the Digital Freedom Project argue that the legislation breaches an implied constitutional freedom of political communication. The law has led to the closure of five million accounts since December, although ministers have acknowledged that some children have bypassed age-verification checks.
France has also encountered legal obstacles. In August, its Constitutional Council struck down the central provisions of a proposed ban on social media for under-15s, ruling that the measure was too broad and lacked adequate safeguards for age checks that would affect adults as well. President Emmanuel Macron has since asked the government to prepare a narrower proposal.
Several European countries are continuing with restrictions. Greece plans to introduce an under-15 ban in January 2027, followed by Denmark in July. Spain is debating an under-16 limit, while the United Kingdom is expected to introduce similar restrictions next year.
The European Commission has also proposed its Kids Act, which would prevent children under 13 from holding social media accounts and restrict access for 13- and 14-year-olds.
The new coalition has received a positive response from Brussels. The Commission’s Open Source Strategy, published in June, identifies decentralised social media as one of four areas where it intends to support European alternatives, alongside cloud services, workplace tools and secure email.
Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier welcomed the development, saying the strategy aims to reduce technological dependence and expand open-source solutions. However, he did not identify specific funding or projects for social networks.
The proposed restrictions could also affect smaller platforms. Australia’s legislation identifies 10 major commercial services, while France’s rejected law covered a much wider range of online platforms, potentially including community networks such as Mastodon.
The Commission says its Kids Act has a narrower scope, exempting educational platforms, encyclopaedias and digital news services. It is also developing a free, privacy-focused age-verification application, expected by the end of 2026, which could help smaller operators meet verification requirements.
Both approaches increasingly focus on platform design, including features such as infinite scrolling, reward mechanisms and late-night notifications. Under the Kids Act proposal, companies breaching the rules could face fines of up to 6% of their global annual turnover.
