Austria approves stricter age checks for social media and porn sites, with fines up to 6% of global turnover

Austria has approved amendments to its audiovisual media law that would ban children under 14 from using social media and require tougher age verification for porn sites from next year. For PSPs and platforms, the important part is not the headline ban; it is the shift from click-to-confirm age gates to ID-based verification, with fines reaching €150 тыс. for smaller platforms and 6% of global turnover for large online platforms.

1. According to Der Spiegel, the government approved the amendments this week. The changes will now go through public consultation until mid-September and will also be reviewed by the European Commission.
2. By 1 April, online platforms including social media services and video-hosting sites must introduce “adequate” age verification. Social networks will also be required to remove elements that are described as addictive and harmful to users’ mental health.
3. For porn sites, the current two-click age check — “I am 18” or “I am not 18” — would be replaced next year by verification through the digital passport ID Austria. Austria is also discussing integration with the EU-wide eID system.
4. The penalty structure is the part providers will care about: small platforms face fines of up to €150 тыс., while large online platforms can be fined up to 6% of their global turnover for breaches of the law.
5. Austria is moving in the same direction as other European markets. Earlier this year, France became the first major EU country to ban social media for children under 15. Greece has a similar ban set to take effect in 2027, and the UK is discussing a full ban on social media and gaming platforms for children under 16.

There is also a practical warning buried in the source material: Australia’s experience showed that age gates are easy to bypass, with studies indicating that up to 85% of teenagers still used social media by entering a different age, using adult accounts, or going through VPNs. That is why regulators keep moving from self-declaration to stronger identity and biometric checks — and why high-risk merchants should expect the same compliance logic to spread from social media into adult content and adjacent categories.