Three levels of social media access: EU introduces strict rules for teenagers
Teenagers in the EU to lose unrestricted access to social media (photo: Pexels)
The European Commission is preparing a major piece of legislation called the EU KIDS Act, which would significantly restrict access to social media, video platforms and AI chatbots for children and teenagers under the age of 15, according to Politico.
A tiered access system and parental controls
The bill would introduce a three-tiered access system based on the user’s age.
The new rules would apply to social networks, video-hosting platforms, online games, and AI companions, but would not affect educational digital tools.
Access rules by age group:
Children under 13: Parents or guardians could create accounts, which would have full control over their activity. Only services that meet the highest safety standards would be allowed.
Teenagers aged 13 to 15 would receive special introductory accounts with screen-time limits, a ban on contacting strangers and mandatory parental controls.
Teenagers aged 15 and over would be allowed to register and manage their own accounts independently.
Read more: EU tightens the rules: ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox now face increased scrutiny
Mandatory age verification and tech giant oversight
To comply with the law, platforms would be required to integrate reliable age-verification technologies. Stricter rules would apply to high-risk platforms.
The oversight framework would resemble the mechanisms established under the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act).
The European Commission would oversee the largest technology companies, while national regulators would supervise smaller platforms.
The supervisory authorities would be funded through special fees imposed on the technology companies themselves.
