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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the Eu Kids Act during her State of the Union address. The new regulatory package bans access to social media for minors under 13 and requires supervised accounts for users between 13 and 15 years old.
As anticipated by Politico, the official presentation of the text took place on Thursday, September 17. The Eu Kids Act aims to reverse the burden of safety onto social platforms, requiring companies to demonstrate that their services are safe for minors.
Eu Kids Act official: why it matters
Specifically, creating accounts on social networks will not be permitted under age 13. Between ages 13 and 15, access will only be possible through accounts supervised by parents or legal guardians, with reduced functionalities and a maximum daily usage limit set at one hour. From 15 to 18 years old, although the requirement for controlled configuration is removed, platforms must still guarantee a “safe design” for their services.
Von der Leyen strongly emphasized that European institutions will define the rules of the game, not big tech companies. This new approach reverses the burden of proof: it will be the responsibility of companies to demonstrate the safety of their services, following a logic already tested with the Digital Services Act.
The regulatory proposal also stems from an analysis of previous legislative experiences. The French law banning social media access for minors under 15 was indeed rejected by the Constitutional Council, deemed too generic and detrimental to the freedom of expression of young people. Even the Australian ban for users under 16 highlighted practical difficulties in its application.
Brussels therefore aims for effective enforcement methods, relying on the oversight architecture already consolidated with the Digital Services Act and the AI Act. The text is expected to impose control obligations on companies, with a division of tasks between the European Commission (for high-risk giants) and national authorities (for smaller operators).
What changes and what are the effects
On the sanctions front, the most credible hypothesis references the fines already provided for by the Digital Services Act: up to 6% of annual global turnover for companies deemed responsible for harm to minors, with the extreme possibility of restrictions on access to the European single market.
Von der Leyen linked the measure to a specific and dramatic case: that of Olea, a 14-year-old Belgian girl who died by suicide following episodes of online bullying, quoting her mother’s words: “Without these omnipresent networks my daughter would still be here.” She also expressed strong criticism toward design mechanisms intended to generate addiction, defining them as a true “capture” of the attention and minds of the youngest users.
The issue of regulating AI companions remains open—chatbots capable of simulating affectionate relationships with the user: some practices are already banned by the AI Act, but specific regulation is still being defined. Experts warn that the legislative process for the Eu Kids Act may still require years before becoming applicable law in all 27 Member States.
Source and further reading on Eu Kids Act official: original article.
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