{"slug": "leak-eu-commission-to-pitch-social-media-restrictions-for-under-15s", "title": "Leak: EU Commission to pitch social media restrictions for under-15s", "summary": "The European Commission will propose an EU Kids Act on Thursday barring under-15s from creating social media and video-sharing accounts without parental consent, according to a confidential document obtained by Euronews. The draft law also imposes safety-by-design rules on services deemed risky to minors, including video games and AI chatbots and companions, and bans design features such as infinite scrolling, artificial notifications and certain reward mechanisms. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to preview the proposal in her State of the Union address to the European Parliament, with France, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands all considering or advancing national social media bans.", "body_md": "## The European Commission will propose barring under-15s from social media without parental consent, plus safety-by-design rules for risky online services like AI chatbots and video games in a legislative proposal that will be published on Thursday, according to a document obtained by Euronews.\n\nThe European Commission is set to unveil an EU Kids Act proposal restricting minors' access to platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, alongside new safety requirements for online services including video games and AI chatbots.\n\nMinors under 15 would be barred from creating accounts on social media and video-sharing platforms without parental approval, while tech companies would be required to make their digital services safe by design, according to a confidential document obtained by Euronews.\n\nCommission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to preview the legislative proposal during her State of the Union address to the European Parliament, meeting in plenary session. The bill itself is due to be published on Thursday.\n\nFrance, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands are all considering or advancing national legislation on social media bans, piling pressure on Brussels to present an EU-wide measure and avoid fragmentation.\n\nIn July, a group of experts convened by the EU executive released a series of recommendations on improving child safety online, many of which are reflected in the upcoming draft law.\n\n\"Technology companies bear the primary responsibility for making their products safe. Parents, not algorithms, should raise Europe's children,\" the document reads.\n\n## **Scope**\n\nThe scope is broader than originally anticipated: the bill will also cover other online services deemed potentially harmful to minors, notably video games and AI companions – a move Spain and the Netherlands [requested](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/09/11/the-netherlands-spain-push-for-eu-wide-minimum-age-on-social-media) only last week.\n\nThe draft EU Kids Act covers social media, video-sharing platforms and online games, considered to pose \"specific design risks for minors,\" as well as AI-powered chatbots and companions, described as \"virtual tools that can give mental health and personal development advice to minors.\"\n\nServices designed and operated for education or by public authorities, as well as AI systems intended for office or industrial use, are excluded from the scope.\n\n## **Age limitations**\n\nThe proposal combines safety-by-design requirements for all the digital services concerned with a minimum age requirement that applies only to social media platforms like TikTok and video-sharing platforms like YouTube.\n\nThe age restrictions apply to all minors under 15, following a graduated approach. Children under three are barred entirely from social media and other high-risk services.\n\nFrom three to 13, children can access child-friendly services under adult supervision. Those aged 13 to 15 would get restricted access to social media and video-sharing platforms, with limited features and under parental control.\n\nSafety-by-design rules remain in place for minors aged 15 to 18, even though teenagers in this age group could access the platforms without parental consent.\n\nCompanies like Meta and Google will have to verify users' age when they open a new account, using an EU-wide age-verification app or other national solutions that check only whether the user is above a certain age.\n\nProportionate verification is required for existing accounts, based for instance on how long the user has subscribed to the service.\n\n## **Safety by design**\n\nThe draft EU Kids Act includes a list of dos and don'ts that tech companies will have to follow to ensure their digital services provide a safe, age-appropriate experience.\n\nIn particular, the bill bans design features such as infinite scrolling, artificial notifications and certain reward mechanisms.\n\nRecommender systems, the algorithms that choose which content to display, should be designed to avoid so-called \"rabbit holes\" and other recommendations driven purely by engagement-based signals.\n\nRisky settings should be disabled by default, while minors' account content would have to be set to private, with unknown users unable to contact them. Reporting harmful content should be made easy.\n\nThe bill also envisages offering parents age-appropriate parental control tools.\n\n\"These rules and principles will be complemented by tailored commitments for online games, AI chatbots and companions, offering a co-regulatory approach based on industry-led self-regulation,\" the document reads.\n\n## **Enforcement**\n\nBrussels has often been criticised for being too soft in enforcing its digital rules, as the online environment tends to move too fast for public authorities to keep up.\n\nAs a result, the Commission is proposing to shift the burden onto tech companies to prove they are complying with child-safety rules.\n\nOnline services already subject to the Digital Services Act's stricter regime, because they are deemed to pose a systemic risk to society, will have to seek authorisation from the Commission before rolling out any new features that could affect children.\n\nTech companies would be charged a supervisory fee to finance enforcement.\n\n[Go to accessibility shortcuts](#accessibility-bar__menu)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/leak-eu-commission-to-pitch-social-media-restrictions-for-under-15s", "canonical_source": "https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/09/15/leak-eu-commission-to-pitch-social-media-restrictions-for-under-15s", "published_at": "2026-09-15 06:57:17+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-15 07:32:31.070662+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "ai-safety", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["European Commission", "Ursula von der Leyen", "EU Kids Act", "Euronews", "TikTok", "YouTube", "Instagram", "Meta"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/leak-eu-commission-to-pitch-social-media-restrictions-for-under-15s", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/leak-eu-commission-to-pitch-social-media-restrictions-for-under-15s.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/leak-eu-commission-to-pitch-social-media-restrictions-for-under-15s.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/leak-eu-commission-to-pitch-social-media-restrictions-for-under-15s.jsonld"}}