The EU wants to protect children online. What about everyone else?
The EU's new EU Kids Act wants to protect minors from addictive platform designs. Critics warn that age-based protection alone may deepen exclusion for disabled users, migrants and the undocumented.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the EU Kids Act on September 17th, aiming to make the internet safer for children. The proposal introduces age-based access thresholds, bans addictive design elements for under-18s, and mandates age verification using a privacy-preserving token. Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen presented the Act as a delay, not a ban, easing children into risky platforms at 13, 15, and 18 instead of barring them entirely.
However, digital rights groups like European Digital Rights (EDRi) express concerns that the Act treats age as the sole marker of vulnerability and fails to address underlying issues like manipulative business models. EDRi's Simeon de Brouwer argues that age verification could disproportionately affect marginalized groups, including people without state identities or those who choose not to have smartphones.
He warns that the Act risks turning smartphones and identity documents into prerequisites for accessing online spaces, potentially harming vulnerable individuals, such as those with disabilities or those in rural areas lacking social support. While Eurochild broadly welcomes the Act's intent, they stress the need to consider inclusivity alongside protection.
EDRi and Eurochild agree that the current draft doesn't fully address how to protect all vulnerable individuals, leaving the balance between protection and exclusion unclear until the European Parliament and Council review the Act by August 2030.
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