Online Safety Tracker
Age-Based Restrictions Benchmark updated to include the EC’s proposal for the EU KIDS Act
On 17 September 2026, the European Commission (EC) proposed the EU KIDS Act, which would implement graduated restrictions on children’s access to social media – a notable departure from the current regulatory trend of enacting complete bans (e.g. in Australia, Canada, the UK). The act prioritises making platforms safe by design, which we consider a more effective way to protect children online than imposing an outright ban. So far, the only other jurisdiction to propose similar graduated measures is Portugal, which would also ban children under 13 from accessing social media while implementing partial restrictions for 13-16-year-olds.
The EC has been under pressure to act given the intention of several Member States to introduce national-level measures, with the EC acknowledging a patchwork of regulation could risk fragmenting the Digital Single Market, especially considering the cross-border nature of digital services, while generating legal uncertainty and increased compliance costs for providers.
The EC’s approach could therefore represent a blueprint for other policymakers to follow, applying targeted restrictions on social media and video-sharing platforms across different age groups:
Children under 13 would be banned from holding social media accounts;
Between 13 and 15, the proposal calls for “mini accounts” controlled by parents, with limits on contact with strangers and screen time (up to one hour per day); and
After 15, teenagers can use social media autonomously, although platforms must implement safety-by-design features for 15-18-year-olds.
In a first for age-based restrictions, the proposal also calls for the burden of proof to be placed on platforms to demonstrate that their services are safe – a markedly different approach to legislation in countries such as Australia where platforms are banned indiscriminately. Platforms that are unable to demonstrate this would not be able to provide access to minors. The proposal broadly aligns with the EU special panel’s recommendations published in July 2026, although it takes a harder stance by suggesting a ban for under-13s. By addressing safety by design, the EU KIDS Act could appear to be encroaching on the upcoming Digital Fairness Act (DFA), although Ursula von der Leyen (President, EC) has indicated that the DFA would be broader, ensuring that adults are also protected online.
The EC’s proposal would also not only target social media platforms but AI chatbots and companions and online gaming, which would be required to implement safety-by-design features. AI systems should not expose children to features that could create emotional dependence, while gaming sites should introduce safeguards to protect against excessive use and children’s potentially harmful contact with other users. App stores would also be in scope of the act, having to implement age-rating systems for apps and preventing minors from accessing or purchasing apps that are age-inappropriate.
For any social media restrictions, some form of age assurance is necessary for platforms to be able to detect who is a child and to whom they should apply restrictions. The EU KIDS Act would oblige social media services to perform age checks, primarily through the EU age-verification tool. According to the benchmark, most restrictions do require some form of age assurance, including all the countries in the Figure. However, most do not designate the specific age-verification methods that must be used, aside from a few countries (e.g. China, Vietnam) that require age verification to be tied to identity. The EU goes further in this regard by requiring providers to only use zero-knowledge proof technology, which means that they will not know the user’s identity or be provided any of the user’s data.
