Google raises its age limit to 16 - includes YouTube, Android, Gmail, ..
In several European countries, Google has recently raised its minimum age limit to 16 years. This means that minors under 16 cannot create new Google accounts at all, if their country of residence is one of those in Google's list.
The change is happening because of the European Union privacy legislation called GDPR that came into force in May, 2018. Legislation sets 16 as the minimum age when a child is capable to sign a contract that allows companies to handle their personal details.
GDPR gives EU member countries freedom to set lower age limit, but most EU countries are currently just in process of adjusting their own country-specific laws, thus, the universal age limit of 16 applies to such countries.
The list of countries that now require the age of 16 or more in order to create a new Google account include Finland, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Some countries, such as the United Kingdom, have already amended their own country-specific legislation and have different age limit than the GDPR standard is.