European Commission Adopts KIDS Act Proposal: No Social Accounts Under 13, Own Account at 15

On September 17, 2026, the European Commission adopted a legislative proposal called the EU KIDS Act (EU Keeping Internet Digital Spaces Accountable and Trustworthy). In the Commission's own words, it has adopted the EU KIDS Act to enhance the online safety of children throughout the Union. The proposal's core age rules come in three tiers: children under 13 may not hold an account on a social media platform; a minor must be 15 before opening an account of their own; and between 13 and under 15, a guardian opens and keeps control of the account, which the Commission calls a gradual approach.

This article was checked on September 18, 2026, against the European Commission's EU KIDS Act press release page, the full press release (reference IP/26/1890), the proposal's FAQ page, and the proposal summary page. This site has not tested any age-verification tool itself and offers no advice on setting up accounts for parents or minors; every sentence below marks this as proposal content, and where the official pages give no date, the article says so directly.

What the Commission Adopted: A Proposal, Not Yet a New Rule

The proposal's formal title, printed on the summary page, is EU KIDS Act - 'EU Keeping Internet Digital Spaces Accountable and Trustworthy,' under press release reference IP/26/1890, datelined Strasbourg, 17 September 2026. The Commission organizes the proposal around four pillars: delaying social media, safety by design, privacy-preserving age assurance, and what the press release calls effective enforcement.

Adopting a proposal is not the same as it taking effect. The press release's next-steps section states that the legislative proposal has been submitted to the European Parliament and Council; none of the four official pages checked for this article states a date of entry into force or a date of application. Wherever this article mentions a deadline, it is a relative formula, such as within six months of the rules applying, rather than a calendar date, and it stays that way below.

The press release's background section says the proposal builds on the report and recommendations of the Special Panel on Child Safety Online, convened by Commission President von der Leyen. Its co-chairs are Dr Maria Melchior and Prof. Dr. Jorg M Fegert; the panel had more than 60 experts, first convened in March 2026, and met three times before delivering its report in July 2026. The press release also cites a figure from the 2026 Special Eurobarometer on the Digital Decade: the Commission says 92% of Europeans consider the need to further strengthen children and young people's protection online a top policy priority, a figure the Commission is citing from that survey, which this article did not separately verify.

The Age Tiers: Three Gates From Age 3 to 15

The proposal's age rules are not a single threshold. The press release states that the proposal prohibits social media platforms from accessing children under the age of 13 and sets an EU-wide minimum age for minors to open an account of their own at the age of 15, which the Commission calls a gradual approach. The FAQ page adds a scope limit: these age rules apply to social networking and video-sharing services with proven risky features.

Between 13 and under 15, the proposal requires platforms to offer parental controls, letting a guardian set up a mini account through which the child accesses the service. The press release's examples include limited social contacts and limited screen time of up to one hour per day; the FAQ page describes the same tier as parental tools always on, a daily time cap, and contacts that need a guardian's approval.

Between 3 and under 13, children cannot use social media, but they can reach specially designed child-facing video-sharing services through an account their guardian manages; platforms must also give parents an easy-to-use tool to limit an adult device's access to those services once it is handed to a child, capping the child's use at up to one hour a day. The FAQ page spells this tier out further: the child has no account of their own, personalized recommendations and search are off, the parent can stop access at any time, and the arrangement ends once the child turns 13.

How the Design Has to Change: Which Services the Safety-by-Design Duties Cover

The press release lists safety by design as the second pillar, covering social media services, video sharing, online video games, and AI companions and chatbots, for users below the age of 18.

The press release names several practices to be banned for minors: addictive features and profiling-based recommender feeds that can draw minors into harmful content, infinite scroll without stopping points, reward tricks, push notifications during sleeping hours, and unsolicited contact from strangers. AI companions and chatbots must be turned off by default and may not simulate interpersonal relationships in ways that create emotional dependency.

On defaults: minors' profiles must be private by default, with geolocation, camera and microphone access turned off. Online services must also offer easy-to-use blocking and muting tools, effective time-management tools, and recommender systems minors can control, adjust and reset.

The FAQ page itself raises the question a reader might ask first: isn't this just banning children from social media? The official answer is no; the age rules are the most visible part, but most of the law is about how the services themselves are built, and the Commission says what matters more is that they are safe by design.

How Age Is Checked: Verification Without Showing ID

The FAQ page states plainly that platforms will not check identity documents and will not learn who the user is; age is verified through certified solutions independent of the platforms, one of which is the free EU age verification app, which the press release describes as not retaining identity documents or biometric data. The proposal requires zero-knowledge-proof technology that can only answer a yes-or-no question about whether the user meets the age, and cannot be used to identify, locate, track or profile anyone. The Commission also requires every Member State to offer at least one free way to prove age, including for people without a digital ID, with the European Digital Identity Wallet joining in time; the FAQ page gives no timetable for that.

When opening a new account, social media and video-sharing platforms will be required to carry out age verification; for existing accounts, they must instead estimate age from reasonable proxies, which the Commission gives as examples such as account creation date and credit card details, an illustration rather than a complete list. App stores carry their own obligations: every app, games included, must be age-rated with a published methodology, must not let children access or buy apps that are not appropriate for their age, and must carry the EU age verification app.

The FAQ page turns the reversed burden of proof into a concrete threshold: platforms with 45 million or more active monthly users in the EU cannot simply declare themselves safe. Before coming into contact with children under the new rules, they must put forward a detailed plan showing how they intend to meet every obligation of the law, to be checked by independent auditors. The Commission states specifically that this audit is paid for by the platforms, not by taxpayers.

Penalties, Who Enforces What, and What Is Still Undecided

The press release calls its fourth pillar effective enforcement, built on reversing the burden of proof: service providers must show their own services are age-appropriate and safe by design, rather than a regulator first having to prove they are not. This enforcement framework builds on the structures already in place under the Digital Services Act and the AI Act; the sources for this article say only that it builds on those structures, not that either law is amended or replaced. The FAQ page breaks the supervision down further: the Commission directly supervises the online platforms and AI chatbots most widely used in the EU; Digital Services Coordinators and national market surveillance authorities remain responsible for the other services and AI systems; and national authorities designated by Member States supervise video games that are not online platforms.

For services the Commission supervises directly, the FAQ page sets out an expedited procedure: preliminary findings within 30 days, and a final decision targeted within 90 days, the Commission's own language being that there is no time to spare. The fine figure appears only on the FAQ page, not in the press release itself: fines can reach 6% of total worldwide annual turnover. The transition rule is also on the FAQ page: within six months of the rules applying, platforms must check whether existing account holders are under 15, and disable the accounts of those who are, or whose age cannot be established; where a platform can already tell with high confidence that a user is an adult, no new check is needed.

A good deal is still undecided. None of the four official pages checked for this article states an entry-into-force date or an application date, and none gives an article number or legal-base citation to cite; this article rests on the Commission's own press release and FAQ summaries, not on the text of the proposal itself. None of the four pages mentions Taiwan either; this article does not speculate on whether Taiwan will follow, and does not compare this proposal with any Taiwanese rule. Readers can see the second link at the end of this article for what a similar category of service already has to do under an EU rule that is in force.

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