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Article Denmark: Citizen Proposal to Ban Minors’ Use of Tiktok, Snapchat, and Instagram Qualifies for Parliamentary Consideration

On November 26, 2024, the Danish Parliament announced that a citizen initiative to ban minors from using Tiktok, Snapchat, and Instagram reached 50,000 supporters, qualifying the initiative for parliamentary review. On December 12, 2024, members presented the initiative to Parliament, which will hold a first reading of the proposal on February 20, 2025.

Rules on Citizen’s Initiatives

Under Danish law, a citizens’ initiative must receive 50,000 signatures within a 180-day time frame to qualify to be presented in the Danish Parliament. (§ 15 Bekendtgørelse om en ordning for borgerforslag med henblik på behandling i Folketinget (BEK nr 843 af 08/06/2022).) Following the presentation (framsættelse) in Parliament, the initiative proceeds in the same manner as regular legislation, first assigned to and discussed by the relevant parliamentary committee and then, if recommended for adoption by the committee, voted on twice by the Parliament.

Content of Initiative

The citizens’ initiative, called Prohibition on Tiktok, Snapchat and Instagram for Minors: Protect Danish Children and Youths Against Harmful Addictive Digital Stimulation (Forbud mod TikTok, Snapchat og Instagram for mindreårige: Beskyt danske børn og unge mod skadelige, vanedannende digitale stimulanser), was launched by four citizens who seek to ban minors from using Tiktok, Snapchat, and Instagram, by adopting legislation similar to those that regulate online gambling by requiring that users be at least 18 years old.

Specifically, the initiative states:

The Danish Parliament is instructed to introduce a ban on TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and similar advertising platforms that use personalized algorithmic data usage to deliberately create addiction among Danish children and young people under the age of 18. Just as legislation protects children and young people from other addictive and harmful products such as tobacco, alcohol and gambling, digital stimulants that manipulate the behavior of young users through personalized mechanisms should be subject to the same restrictions. This could be done, for example, by equating social media with gambling and allowing these media to be included in the same kind of legislation [as online gambling], since the same underlying psychological mechanisms are at play and where “social currency” in the form of likes, followers, views etc. is sought instead of cash.

In the alternative, the initiative proposes adopting measures that would force social media apps to implement restrictions and protections, including “limits on daily usage time, stricter rules for data collection from minors, and a ban on personalized marketing aimed at children and young people under the age of 18.”

The initiative notes that social media use is prevalent among Danish youth, citing statistics that 94 percent of children in Denmark have a social media account before they are 13 and 48% use social media before they are 10. The initiative also cites the death of Sewell Setzer, a 14-year-old boy in Florida whose suicide coincided with habitual use of an artificial intelligence role-playing app, as evidence that AI use by minors should be regulated or limited.

The initiative’s proponents suggested the issue should become a priority ahead of Denmark’s role as President for the Council of the European Union, a rotating presidency among EU member states, which starts on July 1, 2025.

Elin Hofverberg, Law Library of Congress
January 14, 2025

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Chicago citation style:

Hofverberg, Elin. Denmark: Citizen Proposal to Ban Minors’ Use of Tiktok, Snapchat, and Instagram Qualifies for Parliamentary Consideration. 2025. Web Page. https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2025-01-14/denmark-citizen-proposal-to-ban-minors-use-of-tiktok-snapchat-and-instagram-qualifies-for-parliamentary-consideration/.

APA citation style:

Hofverberg, E. (2025) Denmark: Citizen Proposal to Ban Minors’ Use of Tiktok, Snapchat, and Instagram Qualifies for Parliamentary Consideration. [Web Page] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2025-01-14/denmark-citizen-proposal-to-ban-minors-use-of-tiktok-snapchat-and-instagram-qualifies-for-parliamentary-consideration/.

MLA citation style:

Hofverberg, Elin. Denmark: Citizen Proposal to Ban Minors’ Use of Tiktok, Snapchat, and Instagram Qualifies for Parliamentary Consideration. 2025. Web Page. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2025-01-14/denmark-citizen-proposal-to-ban-minors-use-of-tiktok-snapchat-and-instagram-qualifies-for-parliamentary-consideration/>.