Sweden weighs social media age limit of 15  

STOCKHOLM, June 2 (Reuters) - ‌Sweden should ​introduce ​a minimum age of 15 for the use of social media, a government-appointed ‌commission recommended on Tuesday.

• Several European nations are ⁠seeking to rein in children's use of social media ‌after Australia took the ‌lead with a world-first ban on under-16s in December last year.

• "The reasons for introducing an age ​limit nevertheless outweigh the benefits of continued free access to this type of media," Swedish ⁠investigator Lisa Englund Krafft told a news conference with Social Affairs ​and Public Health Minister Jakob Forssmed.

• A ban can be formulated in a way ​that the platform companies would ‌be responsible for the task of age verification, she said.

• In Sweden, ⁠there is currently a limit of 13 years for when children must have parental consent to create accounts ⁠on social media.

• "We are losing an entire generation to endless ​scrolling," Forssmed told the press conference. "Screens and social media and their impact on the health of children and young ‌people is one of the biggest challenges of our time."

• In neighbouring ‌Norway, the government said in April it plans ⁠to submit a bill ‌to parliament by ​year-end on banning social media use by under-16s.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, Editing by William ‌Maclean)

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