The Scandinavian country already has a minimum age limit of 13 in place. Despite this, more than half of nine-year-olds, 58 per cent of 10-year-olds and 72 per cent of 11-year-olds are on social media, according to research by the Norwegian media authority.

 The government has pledged to introduce more safeguards to prevent children from getting around the age restrictions -- including amending the Personal Data Act so that social media users must be 15 years old to agree that the platform can handle their personal data, and developing an age verification barrier for social media.

The Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, conceded it would be “an uphill battle” but said politicians must intervene to protect children from the “power of the algorithms”.

Social media platforms, the Labour leader said, were being misused by the industry and could make users “single-minded and pacified”.

Minister for children and families Kjersti Toppe said it was part of the government’s

"It is also about giving parents the security to say no," said, the. "We know that many people really want to say no, but don't feel they can."

She said the government was investigating methods of enforcing such restrictions that did not intervene with human rights, such as the requirement for a bank account.