Is Europe really going to ban teenagers from Facebook and the internet?

New European data protection rules would see companies require parental consent to handle data of those under 16, effectively blocking them from social media

The European Parliament is set to vote on Tuesday on new rules that could see teenagers banned from internet services such as Facebook, social media, messaging services or anything that processes their data, without explicit consent from their parent or guardian.

The last-minute amendment to the new European data protection regulations would make it illegal for companies to handle the data of anyone aged 15 or younger, raising the legal age of digital consent to 16 from 13.