Social media is banned for children under 13, and no personal accounts are allowed before age 15. This is the direction chosen by the European Commission with the new EU KIDS Act, presented on September 17, 2026, to increase the protection of minors online.
The proposal introduces age-based rules, new systems for verifying age, and greater responsibilities for platforms. It’s not just Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms that are in the crosshairs: the new measures also cover video-sharing platforms, online video games, and certain artificial intelligence-based systems. But take note: the ban isn’t in effect yet. The KIDS Act is a legislative proposal and must be reviewed by the European Parliament and the Council before it becomes law.
Europe Wants to Change the Relationship Between Minors and Social Media
The idea behind the KIDS Act is quite simple: access to the digital world should evolve as users grow older. The European Commission aims to establish common rules across the Union and reduce young people’s exposure to harmful content, cyberbullying, and features designed to increase the amount of time spent online. The proposal follows the work of a group of more than 60 experts, which included representatives of young people, parents, educators, health specialists, and technology professionals.
One of the most significant changes also concerns who is responsible for safety. The principle proposed by the European Union is that of reversing the burden of proof: platforms will be required to demonstrate that their services are age-appropriate and designed with children’s safety in mind.
Under 13, between 13 and 15, over 15: what changes
The KIDS Act introduces three age groups and establishes different rules for each one.
- Children under the age of 13 will not be able to use social media. They will be able to access video-sharing services designed specifically for their age group through an account managed by a parent or guardian.
- Between the ages of 13 and 14, the so-called “mini account” comes into play. It will be created and supervised by a parent or guardian, will have limited functionality, and will include usage limits. The proposal also calls for a maximum of one hour per day.
- Starting at age 15, users will be able to create their own accounts independently. This does not mean that platforms will have free rein: specific safeguards related to the design and security of services will continue to be in place for underage users.
Less scrolling and more secure profiles: the design is changing, too
The KIDS Act does more than just set an age limit for signing up for social media. An important part of the proposal concerns how services used by minors should be designed. The goal is to limit features that can encourage excessive use of the platforms, such as infinite scrolling, certain reward systems, and certain notifications during rest hours. Minors’ profiles must have more protective settings, and simple tools must be available to block, mute, or limit unwanted contacts. The issue also extends to artificial intelligence. Chatbots and virtual assistants intended for minors are part of the new European approach to digital safety: the goal is to prevent systems designed in a way that fosters problematic emotional relationships or forms of addiction. This represents a significant shift in perspective: safety should not be a setting that a young person has to actively seek out, but a feature built into the service from the design phase.
But how can a social media platform know how old you are?
That's probably the first question that comes to mind. If all it takes is to enter a fake date of birth, an age limit is of little use.
That is why the KIDS Act focuses on age-assurance systems—technologies capable of verifying that a user belongs to the required age group. Social media and video-sharing platforms will therefore have to go beyond simply relying on self-declaration at the time of registration. This verification must be designed in a way that also protects privacy. The European goal is to allow a service to determine whether a person is of the required age without turning every sign-up into yet another process of collecting documents and personal information.
The technological aspect will be key: truly blocking access for young children means finding systems that are reliable enough to verify age, yet respectful enough of privacy so as not to create a new problem while trying to solve another.
Big Tech companies will have to prove that they are secure
Another change directly affects the platforms. With the KIDS Act, the Commission aims to shift part of the responsibility onto those who design and operate digital services. The major platforms affected will have to demonstrate that their services are safe for minors and that they have been designed with minors’ age and well-being in mind. This principle complements the protections already provided by the Digital Services Act, which requires platforms accessible to minors to maintain high standards of privacy and security and prohibits targeted advertising to minors based on profiling. The KIDS Act will now go through the European legislative process. The European Parliament and the Council will have the opportunity to discuss and amend the text before its eventual final approval. For this reason, the rules described today represent what the Commission is proposing, not yet what platforms and users must apply immediately.
The KIDS Act and the GDPR: Why the Age of 14 Is Also Being Discussed in Italy
It’s easy to get confused here, because there’s already another important threshold. In Italy, a minor who has turned 14 may, in the cases provided for by data protection legislation, independently give consent to the processing of their personal data for the direct provision of information society services. However, the future age limit of 15 provided for by the KIDS Act concerns a different issue: at what age a minor may independently create an account on the services covered by the new rules. The two thresholds can therefore coexist. A 14-year-old might be old enough under Italian law to independently give specific consent regarding personal data, without yet having reached the age required by the future KIDS Act to independently open a specific account. These are two different rules, designed to regulate two different aspects of the relationship between minors and digital services.
Who will pay for the inspections of the platforms?
Along with new rules, there must also be oversight mechanisms, infrastructure, and resources to ensure compliance. The proposal calls for a system to fund oversight that involves some of the major digital operators affected by the new provisions. The goal is to have the services subject to supervision contribute to the costs necessary to monitor compliance with the rules. The real challenge will then be to translate European regulations into effective enforcement. Verifying age-verification systems, evaluating platform design, and intervening when safeguards fail will require technological expertise and resources at the national level as well.
Real change? It's no longer enough to just state your age
The KIDS Act seeks to address an issue that, until now, has often been handled with a very simple safeguard: a box in which to enter one’s date of birth.
The European proposal takes a different approach. No social media for children under 13; between 13 and 15, access is controlled by parents; and starting at 15, users have independent accounts—with these age thresholds accompanied by age verification, safer services, and greater responsibilities for the platforms. Now the text will go through the European legislative process and may still change. If it is approved, the most interesting challenge will be technological as well as regulatory: figuring out how to truly verify age, protect privacy, and build platforms designed to be safe even before a minor begins using them.
