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European Commission proposes ban on social media for children under 13

Vander Leyen announced a comprehensive plan to require online service providers to design safe children's accounts and regulate the Internet use of minors under the age of 18.

Quick Look

President of the European Commission Van der Leyen announced a plan to protect children's online safety on the 17th, proposing to ban children under 13 years old from using social media, requiring online service providers to design safe children's accounts, and imposing a series of platform and AI usage restrictions for minors under 18 years old.

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Why It Matters

Countries are increasingly concerned about the impact of social media and AI platforms on children's mental health and safety, and Australia and other countries are also promoting similar restrictive measures.

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on the 17th a comprehensive plan to protect children from online dangers, proposing to ban children under 13 from using social media and requiring online service providers to design safe accounts for children.

This ban follows similar measures in Australia, the United Kingdom, China, India, Turkey and many EU countries, highlighting the growing public concern about the impact of Meta's Facebook and Instagram, TikTok (International version of Douyin), Google's YouTube, and ChatGPT on children's mental health and safety.

However, because Australia has faced legal challenges when it officially implemented the world's first ban on social media for people under 16 years old, Europe may also face obstacles when implementing related bans.

Van der Leyen said at a press conference that today's children are exposed to some of the most cutting-edge technologies in history, and these technologies were created without considering children's welfare and development; the "EU Kids Act" under consideration "will draw clear boundaries in the digital world, just like we do every day in real life."

According to the proposal, which must be consulted with EU member states and the European Parliament before being formally enacted, the social accounts of children aged 13 to 15 will be supervised by parents.

As for social media, video sharing, online games, artificial intelligence (AI) assistants and chatbots targeted at minors under the age of 18, they will be subject to a series of precautions, including disabling addictive functions, prohibiting recommendation of updates based on portraits, prohibiting infinite scrolling, prohibiting reward induction mechanisms, and prohibiting active contact by strangers; AI assistant and chatbot functions must be turned off by default.

Online platform operators must design child-safe algorithms, provide easy-to-use parental controls, and provide tools to block and mute users.

What to Watch

AI outlook — possibilities, not facts

The proposal for an EU children's law will be subject to consultations with EU member states and the European Parliament.
Very likely · Within months

Open Questions

When will the EU Children's Law be officially passed?
How will law enforcement agencies technically verify a user's age?

European Commission proposes ban on social media for children under 13

Vander Leyen announced a comprehensive plan to require online service providers to design safe children's accounts and regulate the Internet use of minors under the age of 18.