EU Plans Online Ban for Children Under 15

The European Commission is preparing sweeping new restrictions on children’s access to digital services. Under a draft of the EU Kids Act, children under 15 would be barred from independently accessing social media, video-sharing platforms, AI chatbots and online games.

Those aged 15 and over would be able to create their own accounts, while 13- and 14-year-olds could ask their parents to open introductory accounts for social media and video-sharing platforms. These would remain under parental control, with limited contacts and strict time limits.

Accounts for children aged three to 12 would be fully controlled by parents and limited to child-friendly services with strict safety standards. Children under three would have no access to the services covered by the proposal.

The proposal would also require companies to avoid addictive designs and harmful feeds and provide effective parental controls and tools for children to report harmful content. Social media and video-sharing platforms would have to verify children’s ages when accounts are opened, while gaming platforms would do so before games could be downloaded.

A supervisory fee paid by the companies would fund enforcement of the rules. Details of the proposal could still change before it is announced, and the Commission would then have to work out the legislation with EU member states and the European Parliament before it could become law.

(Reuters, mja)