The European Commission has proposed sweeping new child-safety rules that would stop children under 13 from opening social-media accounts and impose tougher safeguards on platforms, video apps, online games and AI companions used by minors.
Under the proposed EU KIDS Act, children aged 13 and 14 would be allowed only limited accounts created and supervised by parents or guardians, while 15 would become the minimum age for opening a normal social-media account independently.
The proposal marks one of Europe’s most aggressive attempts yet to regulate how technology companies design digital services for children.
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Under-13s would be kept off standard social media
The Commission’s model introduces a gradual age-based system rather than one single rule for all minors.
Children under 13 would not be allowed to hold ordinary social-media accounts.
Those aged 13 and 14 could use what the Commission calls “mini accounts”, but only if the account is created and supervised by a parent or guardian.
These accounts would come with stricter restrictions.
The Commission has proposed tighter privacy settings, stronger parental controls and limits on features considered likely to encourage excessive use.
Children aged 15 to 17 would be allowed their own accounts, but platforms would still have to provide stronger protections than those offered to adults.
The aim is not simply to check a child’s age.
The broader objective is to change what the platform is allowed to show, recommend and collect once it knows the user is a minor.
Endless scroll and late-night notifications face restrictions
The proposal directly targets features regulators believe can keep children online for longer than intended.
These include endless scrolling, reward mechanisms and push notifications during sleeping hours.
The Commission also wants children’s accounts to be private by default and proposes that access to location tracking, cameras and microphones be switched off unless specifically needed.
Recommendation systems based heavily on profiling would also come under tighter controls.
This matters because algorithms can repeatedly push users towards similar material based on earlier clicks, searches or viewing behaviour.
For minors, regulators are particularly concerned that this can lead to exposure to extreme, harmful or age-inappropriate content.
AI companions and chatbots are also included
The KIDS Act goes beyond social-media companies.
It also covers AI chatbots and AI companions used by minors.
The Commission says AI systems should not be allowed to create emotionally manipulative relationships with children or encourage dependency.
AI companion providers may have to prove compliance before their systems can be made available to children.
The Commission says providers would need monitoring systems capable of identifying emerging safety risks and incidents.
That is significant because AI regulation for children is moving beyond questions about harmful content.
Regulators are now also looking at how conversational systems behave over long periods, whether they imitate friendships or emotional relationships and how much influence they may exert over younger users.
Platforms may have to prove they are safe
One of the biggest shifts in the proposal is what the Commission calls a reversal of the burden of proof.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said technology companies should have to demonstrate that services used by children are safe by design rather than waiting for regulators to prove harm after it occurs.
For Very Large Online Platforms, the Commission proposes requiring a compliance plan before their services come into contact with children under the new regime.
That plan would need independent auditing.
The Commission says penalties could reach up to 6% of a company’s total worldwide annual turnover for serious violations.
This brings the proposal closer to the enforcement model already used under the EU’s wider Digital Services Act.
Parents would get a larger role
The proposed framework also puts parents more directly into the account-creation process.
For 13- and 14-year-olds, parent-supervised mini accounts would allow guardians to control how the account is used.
The Commission has suggested restrictions including a one-hour daily screen-time limit for younger users.
The intention is to give parents more control without giving platforms unrestricted access to younger users.
At the same time, the plan raises practical questions.
Age verification must be accurate enough to stop children simply entering a false birth date, but it also needs to avoid forcing every user to hand over excessive personal information.
How the EU solves that privacy-versus-verification problem will be one of the most important implementation questions.
The proposal still has to clear the EU legislative process
The KIDS Act is not yet law.
The European Commission has adopted the proposal, but it must still be negotiated and approved through the European Parliament and EU member states before the rules take effect.
That process can lead to changes in age limits, enforcement powers and the exact obligations imposed on platforms.
Several European countries have already been moving towards stronger national restrictions on social media use by children, creating pressure for a common EU-wide framework.
The Commission argues that one minimum age across the bloc would reduce fragmented national rules and give companies clearer obligations.
What this means for you
The proposal does not immediately ban children from social media because it has not yet become law. If approved, platforms operating in the EU would need to redesign accounts for minors, strengthen age checks and apply tighter controls to recommendation systems, AI companions and addictive features.
The420 Insight
The biggest shift in the KIDS Act is not the age limit itself. Europe is trying to move responsibility away from children and parents and onto the companies designing the platforms. Instead of asking whether a child used an app safely, regulators want the app to prove it was safe for that child to use in the first place.
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