As announced by EU Commissioner Von der Leyen in her State of the Union address, the EU Commission unveiled a gradual and differentiated approach to protect children online, where “each age benefits from a tailored protection level”.
The legislative proposal for an EU Kids Act was adopted on 17 September 2026 with an accompanying communication and an impact assessment.
On access to social media and video-sharing platforms (VSPs), the Commission proposes:
- no access to social media below the age of 13. Only VSPs designed for children should be accessible to children from 3 to 13 through their guardian's own account;
- no personal account on social media and VSPs under the age of 15. Children from 13 to 15 would have so-called mini accounts supervised by guardians, with limited features;
- children from 15 to 18 would access only services with safety-by-design obligations, which address addictive design, unwanted contacts from other users, unsafe settings and recommender systems.
The proposal subjects other services to tailored safety-by-design obligations:
- app stores and video gaming platforms (already in scope of the Digital Services Act (DSA));
- AI Chatbots and AI Companions (already in scope of the AI Act);
- video games (that are not online intermediaries).
Enforcement would depend on whether the service falls under the DSA or the AI Act. Providers that qualify as very large online platforms (VLOPs) under the DSA would have to pay a supervisory fee to the European Commission. These services would need to submit an audited compliance plan to demonstrate they comply with safety requirements.
The proposal takes the form of a regulation, which will be directly applicable in the member states. The Commission explains that this aims to ensure equal protection of children across the union and preserve the functioning of the internal market.
Cullen International’s Flash Report further analyses the proposal in three distinct sections: age restrictions, safety-by-design obligations, and enforcement.
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