A Commission document seen by Reuters outlines age gates, supervisory fees, and a Thursday presentation, with a possible State of the Union tease Wednesday.
The European Union will propose restricting under-15s from social media, video-sharing platforms, AI chatbots, and online games under an EU Kids Act, according to a European Commission document seen by Reuters. Bloomberg also covered the plan to tighten minors’ access to those services.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen are due to present the proposal on Thursday. von der Leyen may announce some details in her State of the Union address on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The draft says the Union should let minors benefit from digital services while protecting them from abuse and exploitation, and limit tech companies’ access to children rather than the reverse. The Commission declined to comment.
Companies would pay a supervisory fee to fund regulators’ enforcement and supervision, the document said. Children 15 and older could set up their own accounts; 13- and 14-year-olds could ask parents to open introductory social and video accounts under parental control with limited contacts and strict time limits; ages 3 to 12 would get parent-controlled, child-friendly services only; under-3s would have no access. Platforms would face age verification when opening accounts or downloading games, plus rules against addictive designs and harmful feeds, tools to report harmful content, and effective parental controls. Details may still change, and the draft must be negotiated with EU countries and the European Parliament over many months before it could become law.
This brief covers the leaked draft and presentation calendar only. It does not treat the Kids Act as enacted law.