The European Union is considering a major change to the way children access the internet, and it could affect everything from children’s use of Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and various artificial intelligence chatbots.
According to the proposal being prepared by the European Commission, according to the report ReutersChildren under 15 may face restrictions on creating and using accounts on a wide range of digital services.
The EU plan is part of the EU Children’s Act, which aims to make digital services safe for children, and comes as governments around the world grapple with growing concerns about how digital platforms impact children’s well-being.
Social media platforms are coming under increasing scrutiny for designing their apps to be addictive and serving harmful content based on recommendation algorithms.
Instead of imposing one rule on every child, the EU proposal would create different levels of access depending on age.
Children aged 15 and older will be able to create their own accounts.
For children aged 13 and 14, access to social media and video sharing platforms will require parental involvement.
Parents could create trial accounts for their children with restrictions on contacts and time spent on the platforms.
The accounts of children from 3 to 12 years old will be fully controlled by their parents. Their access will be limited to services deemed suitable for children and which must meet stricter safety standards.
The proposal could potentially ban access to digital platforms for children under 3 years of age.
The exact rules could still change before the plan is formally presented and agreed upon by EU governments and the European Parliament.
One of the most important aspects of the offer is its wide coverage.
Beyond social platforms
The rules will not be limited to platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. They will also cover AI chatbots and online gaming platforms, covering a much wider part of children’s digital lives under the proposed framework.
The proposal is formulated based on the idea that children’s use of the Internet is no longer limited to browsing social media. They send messages to AI chatbots, play online games, watch videos recommended by algorithms, and interact with other users on numerous platforms.
The bloc’s views on the digital ecosystem as a whole could make it difficult for consumer-facing social platforms and artificial intelligence applications to advance as they will have to take on new responsibilities.
More responsibility for platforms
Platforms may need to reduce the number of features designed to encourage interaction and limit exposure to harmful recommendation channels. They will also need to make it easier for children to report inappropriate content.
They will need to provide parents with more robust tools to control what their children see and how much time they spend on their services.
Age verification may become an important requirement as social media and video sharing platforms will be required to verify a user’s age when creating a new account. Online gaming platforms will have to verify age before allowing children to download games.
In addition to features that monitor the use of these apps, tech companies can also be expected to pay for the system, as the bloc may offer a supervisory fee to fund regulatory enforcement and oversight.
The child and the digital ecosystem
The EU proposal comes amid a growing clamor of voices demanding clear limits on a child’s relationship with the digital ecosystem.
Technology platforms say they already have protections in place as major social media apps have set a minimum registration age of 13.
But critics complain that age restrictions on paper are not enough if platforms cannot reliably determine how old their users actually are.
The EU’s proposed approach would shift more responsibility to tech companies while giving parents more control over their young children’s online activities. This could mean that children will have fewer ways to sign up for popular social apps on their own.
On the other hand, tech firms will have to tread more carefully on the block as the rules governing how they vet users, design their platforms and recommend content to younger audiences will change structurally.
The proposal still has a long way to go before it becomes law. The European Commission will need to work with EU member states and the European Parliament, and the final rules may differ from the current draft.
Published – September 15, 2026 10:32 AM EST.