A Reuters report states that the EU is suggesting a law which would prevent children under the age of 15 from using social media, video-sharing platforms, chatbots, and online games, with exceptions in the case of supervised use.
The EU Kids Act is expected to be introduced on Thursday, but the draft may still be subject to change and must receive approval from the EU member countries and the European Parliament before it can become law.
The proposal involves fines of up to 6% of a company’s annual sales, and the law’s application goes beyond social media companies to include app stores and AI companions. The proposal establishes different rules for different age groups.
EU Kids Act Age Rules, Fines, and Platform Requirements
The draft law would introduce different rules according to age; people aged 15 and over could open their own accounts, and parents would be able to establish introductory accounts on social media and video-sharing sites for 13- and 14-year-olds, the accounts being subject to restricted contacts and strict time limits.
Children between the ages of three and twelve would be able to use only services suitable for children through bank accounts completely under parental control, and children under the age of three would have no access.
The proposal states that age checks should be carried out when people open social media and video-sharing accounts and also before children download online games. Moreover, companies would have to refrain from using addictive designs and harmful feeds, since this has long been a problem on these platforms.
Disregarding the rules might end up being costly since the draft provides for fines of as much as 6% of an organization’s annual sales. In the case of Meta, which had 2025 revenue of $200.97 billion, the highest possible fine would be about $12.1 billion.
Also, the scope goes beyond the typical social media companies to include app stores and AI companions. This action comes after the EU had previously taken action against TikTok and Meta for their addictive algorithms and failures in relation to child safety.
In May, Brussels identified features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, and push notifications, and also raised questions as to whether Meta was doing enough to keep younger children off its platforms.
EU Age Verification Plans and Unconfirmed Details
The EU has already introduced age verification. The Commission states that its age-checking app is ready to be put into use and has asked the member states to make it available by the end of the year. Having a common system in users’ hands would assist the platforms in implementing the proposed restrictions.
Identical measures have also been introduced in the United States. Last week California passed regulations which prohibit addictive social media features for children under the age of 16, such as autoplay and personalised algorithmic feeds.
The chatbot protections linked to these regulations demand independent child safety audits and annual risk assessments, and impose fines of up to one million dollars for each child when large social media companies fail to act and as a result cause harm.
The proposal for the EU Kids Act is set to be submitted on Thursday, and the draft may still be altered before it becomes law, as it will need the agreement of the EU member states and the European Parliament.
The exact age limits, the enforcement measures, and the way age verification will function in practice have not yet been decided upon. Also, the timeline for when the law would come into effect, if it is passed, has not been confirmed.
This proposal concerns child safety online. Parents seeking to manage a child’s access to these services can use existing platform parental controls in the meantime.
