The European Commission has proposed a new law dubbed the EU KIDS Act aimed at tightening rules for how children access and use online services across the bloc. The text sets age-based access to social media, tightens default protections on platforms, and places clearer responsibilities on providers, including very large online services.
What the Commission announced
The Commission’s proposal covers online services used by minors, explicitly listing social media, video-sharing platforms, online games and AI companions and chatbots. The measure establishes an age-stepped access model for social media:
– Under 13: children would not be permitted to access social media services. They could still use child-friendly video-sharing services, but only through accounts managed by a parent or guardian.
– Age 13 to under 15: young teenagers could use social media via a “mini account” managed by a parent or guardian. These accounts would offer limited features and impose a daily time limit of one hour.
– From age 15: minors would be allowed to open and manage their own social media accounts.
The proposal also prescribes a set of default protections for online services used by minors. Platform operators would be required to limit features that can encourage excessive use — including infinite scroll, reward mechanisms and push notifications during typical sleeping hours — and to prohibit unsolicited contact from strangers. Minor profiles would have to be private by default, and services would need to offer easy blocking or muting options.
Specific rules apply to AI chatbots and companions: these would have to be turned off by default and would be forbidden from acting in ways that make children emotionally dependent on them.
To enforce age rules, online services and app stores would be required to use age-verification tools while protecting privacy. The Commission highlights an EU age verification app as one option; the app is described as not retaining identity documents or biometric data. Platforms and video-sharing services would be required to verify age at account opening.
The proposal would also change enforcement dynamics by shifting a greater burden of proof onto platforms: providers of very large online platforms would need to demonstrate that their services are safe for children and designed with their wellbeing in mind.
Why it matters
The Commission frames the initiative as a response to concerns about addictive design features and other risks that children and teenagers face online. If adopted, the KIDS Act would standardise age-based access across the EU and create mandatory defaults intended to reduce exposure to harmful or attention-grabbing design elements. The rules target a broad range of services, including emergent AI-based companions, reflecting regulators’ attention to new technologies used by minors.
What happens next
The proposal now moves to the European Parliament and the Council, which will negotiate and decide the final text before it can become law. The Commission says the draft builds on work by a special panel of experts appointed by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to develop a European approach to online child safety.
Source: European Commission press release
