The European Commission has introduced the EU Kids Act, its broadest proposal yet to restrict minors' access to social media platforms.
If adopted, the law would ban social media for children under 13. Kids aged 13 and 14 would only get supervised access through parent-managed sub-accounts, and only at 15 would minors be able to create their own social media accounts.
Ursula Von der Leyen said in a statement that 'there is a robust body of evidence on the harm that social media does to a developing brain and personality' and that 'platforms have been playing fast and loose with our children's mental health.' She added: 'Now we are reversing the burden of proof.'
The proposal goes beyond age gates. It would force platforms to remove addictive features, including recommendation algorithms that 'drag minors into 'rabbit holes' of harmful contact,' according to the Commission. It would also block infinite scroll, nighttime push notifications and unsolicited contact from strangers. AI chatbots would have to be turned off by default and could not be allowed to create emotional dependency.
For younger children, the proposal allows access only to 'specially designed child-friendly video-sharing services' through guardian-managed accounts. Those 'mini accounts' would need safeguards such as limited screen time of up to one hour per day and tools that let adults control what children see. For 13- and 14-year-olds, the required safeguards would include limited social contact and one hour per day of screen time.
Age verification is another central pillar. Platforms would have to check ages when people open new accounts and use 'reasonable proxies' such as credit card details to estimate the age of current users. Apps would need age assurance tools that do not retain identity documents or biometric data, including the new EU age verification app.
Enforcement would run through the existing Digital Services Act structure. The Commission did not specify sanction amounts, but under the DSA penalties can reach six percent of a company's global annual turnover. The proposal would also create a fast-track 90-day enforcement procedure.
The law is not guaranteed to pass. France's top court blocked a similar proposal, saying it infringed freedom of expression. Industry criticism has also focused on the practical problems of age verification and the risk of overlapping rules. Bernhard Rohleder, CEO of Germany's IT industry association BITKOM, said 'age verification remains a technical challenge, and parallel regulation to existing laws like the Digital Services Act is problematic and unnecessary.'
Here's the thing: Brussels is treating social media like a product with a real cost, not a harmless feed. That is a direct shot at the platform business model, where engagement is the currency and the algorithm is the salesman.
If the EU gets this through, the pressure lands on the companies first, but the incentives shift for everyone. The state gets to redraw the rules of the walled garden; platforms get a new compliance burden; parents get more control on paper. The only question that matters now is whether this becomes child protection, or another expensive layer of bureaucracy wrapped around the same apps.
