Leak: EU Commission to pitch social media restrictions for under-15s

The European Union intends to introduce a new law, dubbed the EU Kids Act, aiming to impose restrictions on social media usage for children under the age of 15. The proposed legislation, set to be unveiled by the European Commission, would require parental consent for minors under 15 to create accounts on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Tech firms would also be mandated to implement safety measures by design.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to introduce the legislative proposal during her annual State of the Union address to the European Parliament. The bill is anticipated to be published on Thursday. Several European countries, including France, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands, are concurrently drafting or implementing their own national regulations on social media limitations for minors, thereby intensifying pressure on the EU to present a unified measure and avert fragmentation.

In July, an expert group convened by the EU executive released recommendations to enhance child safety online, many of which are incorporated in the forthcoming draft law. The primary responsibility for ensuring the safety of digital products lies with technology companies, while parents should remain the primary guardians of their children's online experiences, as stated in the document.

The scope of the proposed EU Kids Act extends beyond social media and video-sharing platforms to encompass other online services that may pose risks to minors, such as video games and AI chatbots. Spain and the Netherlands recently advocated for including AI companions in the legislation.

The draft law combines safety-by-design requirements for various digital services with a minimum age restriction specifically applicable to social media and video-sharing platforms. Children under three will be prohibited from accessing social media and other high-risk services, while those aged three to 13 can use child-friendly services under adult supervision. Adolescents aged 13 to 15 would face restricted access to social media and video-sharing platforms, with limited features and parental oversight.

Safety-by-design principles will apply to minors aged 15 to 18, although teenagers in this category can access the platforms without parental consent. Companies such as Meta and Google will be required to verify users' ages upon account creation, utilizing EU-wide age verification tools or national solutions that determine whether the user is above a certain age. Proportionate verification measures will be applied to existing accounts based on factors like subscription duration.

The bill outlines specific prohibitions and recommendations for tech companies to ensure their digital services provide a safe and age-appropriate experience. These include prohibiting design features like infinite scrolling, artificial notifications, and certain reward mechanisms. Recommender systems, which determine displayed content, must be designed to avoid creating "rabbit holes" and engagement-driven recommendations.

By default, risky settings should be disabled, and minors' account content must be set to private, preventing unknown users from contacting them. Reporting harmful content should be made straightforward.

Parents will receive age-appropriate parental control tools, complementing the bill's principles with tailored commitments for online games, AI chatbots, and companions. These provisions will be based on industry-led self-regulation. The Commission intends to shift the responsibility onto tech companies to demonstrate compliance with child-safety rules.

Services already covered by the Digital Services Act, which imposes stricter regulations on systems deemed systemic risks to society, will need to seek Commission authorization before introducing new features that could impact children, along with a supervisory fee to fund enforcement.