What Changed
According to the Commission's own account, it has adopted the EU KIDS Act, a measure structured around four pillars that was submitted to the European Parliament and Council. Under the Act, a person must be at least 15 to hold their own social media account, which the rule also frames as the age needed for an autonomous social media account, while anyone under 13 is barred from social media access altogether.
The Act requires age verification on new accounts and, more broadly, requires platforms to deploy age assurance tools. For existing accounts, it allows platforms to rely on reasonable proxies such as account creation date or credit card details to estimate a user's age. The EU's age verification app is designed so that it does not retain identity documents or biometric data.
Highlights
- Very large online platforms must submit a compliance plan to the Commission and an independent auditor.
- The Commission has set a 90-day deadline for its investigations under the Act.
- The EU's age verification app is built so it does not retain identity documents or biometric data.
- The Act bans addictive features and profiling-based recommender feeds.
- AI companions and chatbots are required to be turned off by default.
- Child-friendly video content carries a screen time limit of one hour per day.
Who Is Affected
The safety-by-design requirements apply to social media services, video sharing, online video games, and AI companions and chatbots. If you use an AI companion or chatbot, the feature is required to be turned off by default, and a minor's profile is set to private by default with geolocation, camera and microphone switched off. Child-friendly video content is capped at one hour of screen time per day, and the Act prohibits infinite scroll without stopping points, reward tricks, push notifications during sleeping hours, and unsolicited contact from strangers. Addictive features and profiling-based recommender feeds are banned outright.
Very large online platforms carry the compliance weight here: they must submit a compliance plan to the Commission and an independent auditor, and the Act reverses the burden of proof so it is these platforms, rather than regulators, that must show their services are safe by design.
“Today, our children are engaging with the most sophisticated technologies ever created. Technology that was never created with their wellbeing in mind. Our KIDS Act is reversing the burden of proof - it is for platforms to show they are safe by design. And we put parents back in the driving seat, giving them the tools to help their children navigate a safer online world.”
What To Watch Next
Platforms facing scrutiny under the Act will be working against a 90-day investigation deadline set by the Commission. The rule follows work by the Special Panel on Child Safety Online, which first convened in March 2026 and delivered its report in July 2026, co-chaired by Dr Maria Melchior and Prof. Dr. Jorg M Fegert and drawing on more than 60 experts.
Public backing for this kind of rule appears broad: a Special Eurobarometer survey on the Digital Decade 2026 found that 92% of Europeans consider strengthening children's online protection a top policy priority.
