Iceland

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-06

Iceland has no adult-content age-verification statute distinct from its general media-content regime, no social-media-specific minor-access restriction, and no app-store age-verification duty.

The closest instrument is the Media Act (Lög um fjölmiðla nr. 38/2011), whose Article 28 bars a media service provider from distributing content, including pornography or gratuitous violence, that could harm a child's physical, mental, or moral development, subject to watershed-hour and technical-measure exceptions for linear broadcasting.

Since Act No. 27/2024 transposed the revised EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive as incorporated into the EEA Agreement, a video-sharing platform provider (mynddeiliveita) must additionally establish and operate an age-verification system for content that could harm a child's development, alongside flagging, parental-control, and media-literacy measures. The Media Commission (Fjölmiðlanefnd) enforces both duties with administrative fines of up to ISK 10,000,000.

Instruments on record

Lög um fjölmiðla nr. 38/2011, Protection of Minors and Video-Sharing Platform Age Verification

In force

Lög um fjölmiðla nr. 38/2011 (Media Act), 28. gr. og V. kafli A (36. gr. a-d), eins og þeim var breytt með lögum nr. 27/2024

Effective 2024-03-23 · Applies to private

Article 28 bars a media service provider that distributes audio or video content from distributing content, including commercial audio or video communications, that could have a harmful effect on a child's physical, mental, or moral development, in particular pornography or gratuitous violence, subject to watershed-hour, technical-restriction, and news-content exceptions for linear programming.

Since Act No. 27/2024 transposed the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive as incorporated into the EEA Agreement by EEA Joint Committee Decision No. 337/2022 of 9 December 2022, a video-sharing platform provider established in Iceland or directing content to the Icelandic public must, under the new Article 36.a, take appropriate measures to protect children from content, user-generated content, and commercial communications that could harm their physical, mental, or moral development, and, under Article 36.d, must among other things establish and operate an age-verification system for users with regard to content that could harm a child's physical, mental, or moral development, alongside a flagging system, a user-controlled parental-control system, and media-literacy measures.

The Media Commission enforces both duties with administrative fines of up to ISK 10,000,000, and may not process a child's personal data collected under the parental-control or age-verification measures for commercial purposes such as direct marketing or profiling.

Enforcement body	Fjölmiðlanefnd (the Media Commission), Iceland's independent media regulator.
Private suits	no

Source: Full text of law