The European Commission has adopted the EU KIDS Act with the aim of improving online safety for children in the EU.
The proposal bans social media platforms from accessing children under the age of 13 and sets 15 as the EU-wide minimum age for minors to open an account of their own. Under the proposals, service providers will be required to demonstrate that their services are age-appropriate and safe by design.
The proposed KIDS Act is structured around four primary pillars: social media delay, safety-by-design, privacy-preserving age assurance and effective enforcement.
Social media delay
Children would only be allowed to create fully autonomous social media accounts from the age of 15. Minors aged 13 to 15 would use “mini accounts” which are set up and controlled by a parent or guardian, and would only give access to age-appropriate social media or video-sharing services with safeguards. Children aged 3 to 13 would be barred from social media entirely but may use child-friendly video-sharing platforms through accounts controlled by parents or guardians. These platforms are required to provide simple tools allowing adults to restrict their devices to these services and cap usage at one hour per day.
Safety-by-design
The proposed Act also requires all online services used by under-18s to remove addictive design features and profiling-based recommender systems that may push minors towards harmful content. It bans features like infinite scroll, reward-based engagement tricks, night-time push notifications and unwanted contact from strangers. It requires AI companions to be off by default and must not create relationships that foster emotional dependence. Profiles for under 18s must also be private by default with features such as geolocation, camera and microphone disabled. Services are also required to provide simple blocking and muting tools in addition to effective time-management controls.
Privacy-preserving age assurance
Online services and app stores must use age assurance tools such as the EU age verification app, which does not retain identity documents or biometric data. Member States will be closely involved in setting this system up. Social media and video-sharing platforms will be required to provide age verification when a user opens a new account. For existing accounts, providers must estimate the user’s age based on reasonable proxies such as account creation date, credit card details etc.
Effective enforcement
The proposal will reverse the burden of proof, meaning that providers of very large online platforms will be responsible for proving their services are “safe by design”.
They will be obliged to submit a compliance plan to the Commission and an independent auditor that will assess the new service, feature or functionality. The Commission may also request that the provider propose corrective measures if the auditor considers the compliance plan to have any shortcomings. This builds on structures in place under the Digital Services Act and AI Act. The proposal also introduces expedited enforcement procedures in cases of noncompliance with the EU KIDS Act, where the Commission should conclude investigations within 90 days.
The proposal has been submitted to the European Parliament and Council with a view to launching the legislative process for examination and adoption. We are also expecting the draft Digital Fairness Act to be published in October, which will also cover some of these themes.
