The European Commission has adopted a proposal for the EU KIDS Act, aimed at strengthening children's online safety across the EU. The proposal follows the report and recommendations of the Special Panel on Child Safety Online, co-chaired by Dr Maria Melchior and Prof Dr Jörg M Fegert. It also reflects growing calls for stronger protection for children and young people online, which has become a top policy priority.
The proposal would prohibit social media platforms from giving access to children under 13 and would set an EU-wide minimum age of 15 for children to open their own accounts, creating a graduated approach. It would also reverse the burden of proof, requiring service providers to demonstrate that their services are age-appropriate and safe by design.
The proposed Act has four main areas of focus:
Social media delay
Under the proposed rules, children would only be able to create autonomous accounts on social media services from the age of 15.
For children aged 13 to under 15, the proposal envisages parental control through "mini accounts" that children can access via a guardian's account. This would allow them to use age-appropriate social media and video-sharing platforms. Mini accounts would need to include safeguards, such as limited social contacts and screen time capped at one hour per day. This graduated approach recognises the role of guardians in supporting children's autonomous and safe development online.
Children aged 3 to under 13 would not be able to access social media, but they could access specially designed child-friendly video-sharing services through accounts managed by their guardian. Platforms would need to provide parents or guardians with an easy-to-use tool to restrict an adult device to child-friendly services when it is passed to a child, and to limit the child's exposure to a maximum of one hour per day.
Safety-by-design
The EU KIDS Act would impose obligations on online services offering social media, video-sharing, online video games, AI companions and chatbots to users under 18. These include bans on addictive features and profiling-based recommender feeds that draw minors into "rabbit holes" of harmful content. The proposal would also prohibit infinite scroll without stopping points, reward tricks, push notifications during sleeping hours, and unsolicited contact from strangers. AI companions and chatbots would need to be off by default and could not simulate interpersonal relationships in ways that create emotional dependency.
Profiles for children would need to be private by default, with geolocation, camera and microphone access switched off. Online services would also need to offer simple ways for minors to block and mute users, effective time-management tools, and safe recommender systems that minors can control, tune and reset.
Privacy-preserving age assurance
Online services and app stores would be required to use age assurance tools. The EU age verification app, for example, is designed not to retain identity documents or biometric data. Providers of social media services and video-sharing platforms would be expected to verify a user's age when a new account is opened. For existing accounts, providers would be required to estimate a user's age using reasonable proxies, such as the account creation date or credit card details.
Effective enforcement
The new rules would make providers of very large online platforms responsible for proving that their services are "safe by design". They would be required to submit a compliance plan to the Commission and to an independent auditor, who would assess the relevant service, feature or functionality. If, based on the auditor's report, the Commission considers that the compliance plan contains shortcomings, it could require the provider to propose corrective measures.
The enforcement framework would build on structures already in place under the Digital Services Act and the AI Act, using established mechanisms and existing expertise. The proposal would also introduce expedited enforcement procedures for non-compliance, under which the Commission would be required to conclude investigations within 90 days.
European Parliament proposal
Allied to this, the European Parliament has adopted proposals calling for an integrated European strategy to ensure a safe online environment for young people, with platforms, EU countries and the Commission expected to play a role. MEPs want platforms to take greater responsibility for harmful and manipulative content, including by introducing risk-based safeguards for recommender systems, banning the most addictive design practices, offering privacy-preserving age verification and a 'youth mode' disabling targeted advertising, and applying mandatory ethical standards for AI companions. They also see the forthcoming revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive as an opportunity to strengthen protection against illegal and harmful content on video-sharing platforms, clarify the responsibilities of influencers and professional content creators, and improve advertising transparency, including through a possible EU-level code of conduct and clearer rules on influencer marketing and sponsorship disclosure.
Comparison with the UK
The EU proposal has clear parallels with the UK's regime, but the two regimes are not identical. In the UK, the Online Safety Act already places duties on regulated services to protect children from harmful content, with Ofcom's children's safety codes requiring measures such as safer recommender systems and highly effective age assurance. The UK government has also announced plans to ban social media for under-16s, with implementation expected from spring 2027, and to restrict high-risk features such as livestreaming and stranger contact for children. By contrast, the EU KIDS Act proposal would create a more graduated EU-wide model, including a prohibition on social media access for under-13s, guardian-managed "mini accounts" for 13-to under-15-year-olds, and a minimum age of 15 for autonomous accounts, alongside a broader safety-by-design framework for services used by minors, similar to that required under the ICO's Age-Appropriate Design Code.
Next steps
The legislative proposal has been submitted to the European Parliament and the Council for examination and adoption under the ordinary legislative procedure. Given what it describes as the clear demand for urgent and comprehensive action at EU level, the Commission says it is essential that the legislation is adopted swiftly.
The scope of the proposed law is huge and there is now so much convergence between social networks, video games or video sharing platforms. Implementation will be complex, and it will also be important to make sure that the proposed law's provisions do not conflict with existing EU laws or the new Digital Fairness Act, which is expected in October.
