The Pulse
European Commission Publishes EU KIDS Act Proposal on Child Safety Online
The European Commission’s EU KIDS Act proposal addresses risks to minors from certain online services and AI systems while seeking a common age threshold for autonomous account creation on specified platforms.
AI.info Team ·
European Commission Publishes EU KIDS Act Proposal
The European Commission has published a proposal for the EU KIDS Act, a framework aimed at protecting minors from risky digital services and artificial intelligence systems. The proposal also seeks to uphold the European Union’s digital single market and maintain a coherent regulatory and enforcement structure for protecting children online.
The Commission’s publication describes the measure as an effort to address risks faced by minors on certain online social networking services and video-sharing platforms. It also places those concerns within a broader framework covering digital services and AI systems that may affect children.
The proposal is intended to establish a common approach across the European Union rather than leave each country to apply separate age rules. The Commission says that a shared standard would reduce differences between national systems, remove obstacles to the functioning of the digital single market and provide children across the EU with a similar level of protection.
Common Age Threshold for Certain Platforms
A central element of the proposal is a limit on autonomous account creation by children below the age of 15. The restriction would apply to specific social networking platforms and video-sharing services identified as presenting risks to minors. The proposal does not describe the rule as applying to every online service or every digital account.
By setting one age across the European Union, the Commission says the measure would harmonise national requirements. That would give providers a single threshold to apply across the bloc while establishing a common baseline for the protection of children using covered platforms and systems.
The proposal’s stated objective is not limited to account access. It is part of a wider effort to address the risks that minors face when using digital services and AI systems. The Commission presents the EU KIDS Act as a way to connect child protection with the regulation of services operating across the European digital market.
Proposal Accompanied by Further Documents
The Commission’s publication includes the proposal itself along with a communication setting out an EU approach to online child safety. It also provides a staff working document containing an analysis of the impacts associated with the proposal.
Those documents are intended to provide the policy and analytical material surrounding the proposed framework. The publication identifies the proposal as a policy and legislation document and dates it September 17, 2026.
The EU KIDS Act is presented as a proposal, not as a description of rules already in force. Its publication begins the process of setting out how the European Union could address child safety across selected social networking and video-sharing services, as well as risks connected with AI systems and other digital services.
The Commission’s overview focuses on three linked goals: protecting minors from risky online services and AI systems, preserving a functioning digital single market and maintaining a coherent structure for regulation and enforcement. The proposed common age threshold for autonomous accounts is the clearest specific measure identified on the publication page.
Further details are contained in the downloadable proposal, the accompanying communication and the staff working document listed by the Commission. Together, those materials provide the basis for assessing the scope, operation and potential effects of the EU KIDS Act as the proposal moves through the European Union’s legislative process.