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The European Commission continues its crusade against Big Tech and Social Media companies to ensure that children grow up in a safer digital environment, where both their mental and physical health are protected during their most transformative years.
In the words of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen: “If a platform wants to access children or teenagers, minors, the platform needs to prove first that they are safe and show in detail their safety plans and that this is a given. Before that, the platform will have no access to minors.”
The EU Kids Act proposal aims to ensure that children access a safe Internet, gradually and exposed to age-appropriate content, using platforms free of addictive systemic designs and features. In accordance with this, the EU Kids Act puts in place a robust plan for age verification, age reassurance, and parental guidance, ensuring these solutions are simple and empowering.
What is the EU Kids Act?
The EU Kids Act proposal aims to ensure children access age appropriate information, while guaranteeing their privacy, participation and freedom of expression remain guaranteed by default and by design, as stated by Henna Virkkunen Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy.
As the President of the European Commission emphasized: “By discussing the topic, there is a societal discussion about the harms and the benefits of Social Media. Each and everyone has a responsibility in that and can help.” The EU Kids Act strengthens safety obligations on all the platforms concerning: Social Media, video-sharing, AI companions, AI chatbots, and online video games. Rules and procedures that will complement the Digital Services Act.
The EU Kids Act proposal will now be taken to the EU member states, companies, civil society, researchers, and to children and young people themselves. This proposal will take parenting back to parents and childhood back to children.
How will the EU Kids Act complement the Digital Services Act and the EU AI Digital Act?
In recent years, to regulate the digital world, the European Commission has already put in place the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA). In addition, several EU countries are already discussing Internet and Social Media age restrictions, as well as content and usage limitations.
This new proposal will advance the fight for less addictive design and more transparent algorithms across platforms, promoting a “youth mode” system to be integrated without targeted ads for minors. With these new measures, age verification online should be easy and reveal nothing other than your age. The Digital Services Act is a horizontal piece of legislation, whereas the EU Kids Act proposal contains more defined and precise points of regulation and work.
Because digital platforms have been slow to implement these regulations, the European Commission is now making the guidelines legally binding through the EU Kids Act proposal, introducing the “Safety-by-design” rules. These guidelines force the platforms to obey the points the Commission has already been promoting and using as a benchmark for over a year – to protect the safety and privacy of minors.
As both Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunenand European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have stated, the EU Kids Act relies on effective enforcement, building on the existing DSA and AI Act structures.
Safe-by-design rules and the care for children in the EU
The DSA already includes a strict list of Do’s and Don’ts that the digital platforms and social media need to comply with (or get fined). Now the EU Kids Act reinforces those requirements through the “Safety-by-design” rules, which must be in all the platforms defined and activated by default, easing parenthood while protecting children, to reinforce a safer environment for all users under the age of 18. In Europe, it is now for companies to prove their services are safe and that they apply the “Safety-by-design” rules, testing them before putting their products online and monitoring the harms of their digital products afterward.
The main points of the “Safety-by-design” rules define:
No more addictive features.
Strangers cannot message kids.
Kids cannot get targeted by personalized ads or algorithm content based on past activity.
AI companions and AI chatbots cannot act like human friends in ways that will make children emotionally dependent on them. They cannot carry past conversations or behavior into new conversations.
Chatbots on kids’ apps and games cannot be turned on by themselves nor pushed to children, and should be easy to switch off.
How will children access social media and the digital world?
The goal of the European Commission is that children will have gradual access to and an approach to Social Media. Legal guardians will have the power to ensure the phasing of children, and they will start exploring the social media world.
How does the EU Kids Act phase minors’ access to Social Media?
No accounts for children below 13 years old.
Between ages 13 – 15, children will be able to access social media only through their legal guardians’ accounts, through the creation of mini-accounts. Parents will accompany children through a really vulnerable age, having the final decision on whether minors can access social media and under which strict measures and safeguards, such as:
Setting a maximum limit of hours of use.
Pre-approving potential new contacts with other users of social media.
Establishing a maximum number of users the children can access through the account.
Between the ages of 15 and 18, children users will be able to have their own account, still with limitations by the platforms about which content they will have access to.
What will happen if the rules are not followed?
The European Commission will keep a close eye on all digital platforms and now has an updated, fast, expedited procedure: to conduct preliminary finding investigations within 30 days, and can carry out a final decision within 90 days, as there is no time to spare when it comes to the protection of minors.
This is now thanks to the clear list of what a platform should do and what it should not do. The fines for not following the Digital Kids Act regulations can reach 6% of total worldwide annual turnover. Now it is time for all companies to prove in the EU that their services are safe for minors.
What is the 𝙀𝙐 𝙆𝙞𝙙𝙨 𝘼𝙘𝙩 proposal from the European Commission?
It aims to ensure children access a safe Internet. Puts in place a robust plan for age verification, age reassurance, and parental guidance, ensuring these solutions are simple and empowering. The EU Kids Act strengthens safety obligations on platforms concerning: Social Media, video-sharing, AI companions, AI chatbots, and online video games. Rules and procedures that will complement the Digital Services Act #DSA ( EU Digital & Tech ).
The “Safety-by-design” rules define:
– No more addictive features.
– Strangers cannot message kids.
– Kids cannot get targeted by personalized ads or algorithm content based on past activity.
– AI companions and AI chatbots cannot act like human friends, making children emotionally dependent on them. They cannot carry past conversations or behavior into new conversations.
– Chatbots on kids’ apps and games cannot be turned on by themselves or pushed to children, and should be easy to switch off. Get familiar with it: https://commission.europa.eu/news-and-media/news/eu-kids-act-helping-children-navigate-safer-online-world-2026-09-17_en
