Keeping children safer online is an easy sell. How to do it is not: Europe is already divided over age checks, parental control and how much power Brussels should have over online platforms.

Amost two weeks ago, Ursula von der Leyen used her State of the Union speech to put child safety near the centre of the EU’s digital agenda. “What we are witnessing is a great capture of our children,” she said. A day later, the Commission presented the EU KIDS Act.

The proposal would keep children under 13 off social media. Restrict 13- and 14-year-olds to parent controlled accounts. Allow independent accounts only from 15. Platforms used by minors would also have to remove or restrict addictive features such as infinite scroll, reward systems, harmful personalised feeds and notifications during sleeping hours. AI companions and online games would face separate rules.

Political groups agree on child safety, but not on who should set the rules

On the left, the proposal has been broadly welcomed, but with calls to change platform design. S&D President Iratxe García Pérez (ESP) called the KIDS Act “a good first step”. Also, MEP Alex Agius Saliba (S&D/MLT) backed restrictions on addictive features. He warned, however, that “age verification is not a silver bullet and needs to be carried out in a privacy-preserving way. It must be part of a broader approach to changing the way platforms operate and affect the well-being of minors”.

If we simply ban children from the platforms without fundamentally changing the way they operate, Musk and Zuckerberg will be popping champagne. — Kim van Sparrentak (Greens/NLD)

The Greens took a similar position. The group supports action against attention-based recommendation systems and infinite scrolling. But age checks must protect privacy and should not become another way for technology companies to collect data, it said.

“If we simply ban children from the platforms without fundamentally changing the way they operate, Musk and Zuckerberg will be popping champagne,” Kim van Sparrentak (Greens/NLD) commented, referring to billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, the owners of X and Meta, respectively. “These platforms will then continue to pose a threat to our health, safety and democracy,” she added.

On the right, ECR is being more cautious about setting rules. “Whether there should be a minimum age for social media, and what that age should be, should remain a decision for member states. There is no reason why Brussels should impose the same model on every family and every country in Europe,” Lara Magoni (ERC/ITA) said after the parliamentary vote on the report on the impact of social media on young people.

The proposal follows months of expert work

Child-safety organisations have backed Brussels’ direction. Leanda Barrington-Leach, Executive Director of 5Rights Foundation, said that “reversing the burden of proof and requiring services to demonstrate they are safe before market release would finally bring tech in line with what EU consumers rely on”.

Moreover, Missing Children Europe welcomed the proposal, particularly its gradual approach. But the organisation said platform responsibility would still be needed. It called for strong monitoring and enforcement, while making sure data protection and children’s rights are not weakened.

The organisation also linked the debate to risks beyond excessive screen time, including grooming, sexual exploitation and trafficking, and called for access to child helplines and missing-children hotlines to remain available across online services. 

The KIDS Act work started after von der Leyen’s 2025 State of the Union address. The Commission announced a special panel on child safety online, composed of young people and more than 60 experts, including specialists in health, neuroscience, psychology, education, child rights and technology.

Privacy remains a main concern

How to verify age is one of the most disputed parts of the legislation. The Commission says its system should allow users to prove that they meet an age threshold without retaining identity documents or biometric data. Brussels wants member states to rollout age-verification app by the end of 2026. 

But The Computer & Communications Industry Association Europe (CCIA Europe) said after the KIDS Act presentation that the proposal would require more than a simple age check. “If platforms have to distinguish minors from adults, adults must also prove their age when signing up for platforms or services,” it wrote. The group warned that age information is an attractive target for cybercriminals and make anonymous or pseudonymous use of online services more difficult.

Europe is not alone

The EU is drawing on countries that have already introduced stricter rules. Australia has required major social media platforms since December 2025 to stop under-16s from holding accounts.

Unlike the Commission proposal, Australia uses a single age threshold rather than different levels of access as children get older. Early results show that the share of under-16s with an account fell around 10 per cent in three months. Still, more than 81 per cent of kids are using banned platforms.

The UK has taken a similar route through its Online Safety Act. Social media will no longer be able for kids under 16. The government also plans default restrictions for 16 and 17 year olds. This includes limits on overnight access, notifications, autoplay and personalised feeds.

The Kids Act now goes to discussion between Parliament and EU governments.