BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The European Commission has adopted the EU KIDS Act to enhance the online safety of children throughout the European Union.
The proposal prohibits social media platforms from accessing children under the age of 13 and sets an EU-wide minimum age for minors to open an account of their own at the age of 15, thereby ensuring a gradual approach. The KIDS Act also reverses the burden of proof. Now, service providers will have to show that their services are age-appropriate and safe by design.
Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, said: '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.'
The EU KIDS Act proposes that children can create autonomous accounts on social media services only from the age of 15.
For children between 13 and under 15, the proposal calls for parental control, enabling guardians to set up mini accounts that children can access through the guardian's account. This would allow them to access age-appropriate social media and video-sharing platforms. In addition, services available on the mini accounts must be designed with safeguards, such as limited social contacts and limited screen time of up to one hour per day.
Children between 3 and under 13 cannot access social media, but they can access specially designed child-friendly video-sharing services through accounts managed by their guardian. For that purpose, the platforms need to offer parents or guardians an easy-to-use tool to restrict the use of the adult's device to such child-friendly services, when it is passed on to children, and limit the child's exposure up to a maximum of one hour per day.
The EU KIDS Act imposes a number of obligations for all online services offering social media services, video sharing, online video games, AI companions and chatbots to users below the age of 18.
These include a ban on addictive features and profiling-based recommender feeds dragging minors into 'rabbit holes' of harmful content. It also includes prohibiting infinite scroll without stopping points, reward tricks, and push notifications during sleeping hours, as well as unsolicited contact from strangers. In addition, AI companions and chatbots must be turned off by default and cannot simulate interpersonal relationships in ways that create emotional dependency.
Profiles for minors must be private by default, with geolocation, camera and microphone access turned off. Online services must also offer easy ways for minors to block and mute users, effective time-management tools, and safe recommender systems that minors can control, tune and reset.
Under the EU KIDS Act, online services and app stores must use age assurance tools.
The legislative proposal has been submitted to the European Parliament and Council, with a view to launching the legislative process for their examination and adoption.
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