The EU details the Kids Act, which would require social networks to use age verification tools to stop under-15s from opening accounts, ban under-13s, and more
Context & Ripple Effects
The Commission’s proposal follows a 2025 Parliament-backed call for a 16+ social-media threshold without parental consent and planning documents that put social platforms, video services, games and AI chatbots in scope. The detailed plan turns that direction into account-level rules centered on age checks and parental control.
Commission officials frame the measure as safety-by-design built on existing DSA and AI Act structures, rather than a social-media-only rule. That broader framing makes the age gate an operating requirement for services used by minors, not merely a content-policy setting.
First-order effects
- Social networks would need to add age-verification flows, block under-13 sign-ups and limit independent accounts to users 15 and older under the proposed rules.
- Platforms serving 13- and 14-year-olds would have to support parent-created, feature-limited accounts and screen-time controls, separating those users from standard account experiences.
Second-order effects
- The Commission’s privacy-preserving verification requirement puts identity and age-assurance design at the center of compliance, forcing platforms to reconcile child safeguards with privacy obligations.
- Because the proposal’s stated scope extends to video sharing, games and AI chatbots, providers across those interfaces face pressure to build comparable minor-account controls rather than rely on a social-network carve-out.
Third-order effects
- If enacted on the stated terms, the Act would advance the Commission’s minors-safety agenda toward interface-neutral access regulation: eligibility and account features set by age across multiple digital services.
- Building enforcement on DSA and AI Act structures would make child-access controls another cross-platform compliance layer, with product design and account architecture becoming regulatory surfaces.
The trend: The EU is moving from platform-specific child-safety expectations toward age-based access and feature controls that apply across social, entertainment and AI services.