The Chancellery of the Prime Minister (KPRM) has published a draft law on a minimum age for access to online social networking services. Under it, an account on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok could only be held by people who have turned 15.
The draft was prepared jointly by the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the Ministry of National Education. According to the DoRzeczy portal, a social networking service under the draft would be a platform that allows users to create profiles, make connections, publish content and communicate with other users.
Who will check age, and how
According to media reports, age verification would rest with the platforms. They would be enabled to do so by the European Digital Identity Wallet, the mObywatel app and commercial tools compliant with EU rules. The drafters stress that the service would receive only confirmation that the user is 15 or older, without first name, surname or other data.
Supervision of compliance with the rules would be carried out by the President of the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE). The minister responsible for informatisation would maintain a list of „trusted solutions” for age verification, covering entities from Poland and other EU countries.
The road to this draft
On Wednesday, 21 October, Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Dariusz Standerski told the Sejm that, together with Deputy Minister of Education Katarzyna Lubnauer, he had submitted a request to include the draft in the government’s register of legislative works. Earlier, in February, KO MPs had presented similar proposals as a parliamentary initiative.
According to Carpatia Biznes, citing the register of legislative works, the Council of Ministers is to adopt the draft in the first quarter of 2027. The WNP portal writes that the rules could take effect on 1 September 2027 or 1 January 2028, with the timing depending on consultations and legislative work. The solutions are also to go through the EU notification procedure, as Lubnauer has said.
The Polish proposal is stricter than EU plans. According to WNP and WP, under the EU Kids Act children under 13 could not use social media, while an account without restrictions could be opened from age 15. We have written about similar steps abroad in connection with the announcement of a ban for people under 16 in the United Kingdom.
What it means for families
For now nothing changes: this is a draft that must go through consultations, inter-ministerial agreement, the government, the Sejm, the Senate and the President’s signature. According to zero.pl, age verification would apply to new accounts. Parents of teenagers under 15 should expect that, once the rules take effect, a child will not be able to create a profile and platforms will have to check age. Today, most services’ terms of use set a minimum age of 13.
