Brussels Wants to Age-Check Childhood

Brussels has found a new object for its regulatory affection: childhood online. The proposed KIDS Act would bar children under 13 from social media and place tighter limits on users aged 13 to 15, all in the name of reducing addiction, doomscrolling and exposure to harmful content or unwanted contacts. The intention sounds reassuringly tidy; the practical result may be less so.

The measure lands in a political climate that is unusually forgiving. According to Eurobarometer’s EU Challenges and Priorities survey, 91% of EU citizens say more measures are needed to regulate children’s social media use. The most popular option, supported by 36%, is a ban for children below a certain age. Greece recorded the strongest backing at 49%, followed by Bulgaria, Romania, Portugal, Ireland and Slovakia at 44% each. At the other end of the scale sit Austria at 27%, Germany at 28% and the Czech Republic at 29%.

The proposal does not stop at a simple age limit. Teenagers aged 13 to 15 would not be allowed to create an account independently. Their parents would have to start and confirm the process, after which the account would be managed through a linked parent profile or an admin dashboard. That system would also set screen-time limits, with a maximum of one hour per day. In Brussels, this is what passes for a clean solution: the platform stays in place, the family gets the admin work.

Child-rights organisations are not exactly cheering. Jeanne-Marie Quashie, EU advocacy officer at Terre des Hommes Netherlands, said the group supports 13 as the minimum age, but does not see it as a new ban because platforms already use 13 as their access threshold. She also said the age limit fits Article 8 of the General Data Protection Regulation, while arguing that the new rules still need work for 13- and 14-year-olds. Her main objection is straightforward: if access depends on a parent’s sign-up, the burden moves from tech companies to families.

That concern is not theoretical. Quashie argued that the EU KIDS Act is moving in the right direction by targeting platform design rather than blanket bans, but warned that parental authorisation shifts responsibility away from the companies that built the system. She added that children’s access to online spaces should depend on safety, not on parental approval. The phrasing is polite; the message is less so.

Public anxiety about children online is broad, but not evenly distributed. Around 71% of respondents said they are very or somewhat worried about cyberbullying, 70% about online grooming and 69% about exposure to harmful content. Addictive design, which is one of the KIDS Act’s main targets, ranked lower at 60%, with only 28% saying they were very concerned. Cyprus and Luxembourg were the exceptions, with 89% and 87% respectively worried about addictive design.

The result is a familiar European compromise: broad public backing, a worthy ambition and a design that quietly asks parents to do the hard part. Whether that makes children safer or merely gives regulators a cleaner conscience is the question Brussels would rather not answer too loudly.

Written by Martina Kirchner martina.kirchner@alpineweekly.com