Denmark’s government on Friday announced an agreement to ban access to social media for anyone under 15, ratcheting up pressure on big tech platforms as concerns grow that kids are getting too swept up in a digitized world of harmful content and commercial interests.

The move, led by the Ministry of Digitalization, aims to set the age limit for access to social media but give some parents — after a specific assessment — the right to give consent to let their children access social media from age 13.

Such a measure would be among the most sweeping steps yet by a European government to limit use of social media among teens and younger children, which has drawn concerns in many parts of an increasingly online world.

It follows a move in December in Australia, where parliament enacted the world’s first ban on social media for children — setting the minimum age at 16.

That made platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram subject to fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to prevent children younger than 16 from holding accounts.

The Danish ministry statement said the age minimum of 15 would be introduced for “certain” social media, though it did not specify which ones. Nor did the statement indicate how such a move would be enforced in a world where millions of children have easy access to screens.

But the move nonetheless was likely to stir debate well beyond Denmark's borders.

A coalition of lawmakers from the political right, left and center “are making it clear that children should not be left alone in a digital world where harmful content and commercial interests are too much a part of shaping their everyday lives and childhoods,” the ministry said.