Should there be a minimum age for using social media? What was established as a law in Australia in 2025 is also the subject of heated debate in the EU.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has now convened a panel of experts from the fields of research and business to discuss precisely this issue. Among them is ELH-PI Matthias Brand, who has been involved in addiction research for many years and has studied the problematic use of online services in depth. With the help of functional MRI, among other things, Brand and his team from FOR 2974 are attempting to unravel the complex question of why and where the human brain generates feelings of reward and why some people develop addictive behaviours.

Together with other experts from the fields of science, children's rights, health and IT, the committee is now discussing whether legal measures should also be introduced in the EU to protect children in the context of safe internet use. Concrete recommendations for protective actions are to be presented before the summer.Matthias Brand Teil von Expert:innengruppe der Europäischen Kommission