The Commission adopted the draft EU KIDS Act. Platforms will have to prove for themselves that they are safe for children. It is a proposal and now goes to Parliament and the Council.
- Under 13 - no social media; from 13 to 15 - mini accounts under a parent's control; an own account from 15.
- For everyone under 18: no infinite scroll without stopping points, night-time notifications or profiling-based recommendations; AI companions are off by default.
- Under the proposal the burden of proof is reversed for very large platforms, and under the expedited procedures investigations must close within 90 days.
A six-year-old is holding her mother's phone. If the proposal passes, there will be a rule for what she can do with it: children's videos, through the parent's account, up to one hour a day.
That is the easiest part to understand. The bigger part sits underneath.
The AI companion line
The proposal builds on the report of an expert panel delivered in July. The most interesting part for me is the line on AI companions: a chatbot that stays off until someone consciously switches it on, and that has no right to simulate a close relationship in a way that makes the child dependent on it.
Reversing the burden of proof is the other big thing. Until now the regulator had to prove that a platform does harm, as in the TikTok case in July. Under the proposal a very large platform will have to prove that it does no harm, with a compliance plan, and an independent auditor will assess the new service or feature.
None of this is law yet. Parliament and the Council have yet to examine it, and the Commission writes that it wants swift adoption. If you have a child under 15, watch for when the text reaches a vote, because it will apply across the whole EU, which means here too.