The European Commission is advancing plans to enforce stricter child safety rules across social media and AI-driven platforms, aiming for a unified age limit and stronger safeguards to curb minors’ exposure to harmful content. A panel of child safety experts recently submitted a comprehensive report recommending these measures, urging Brussels to harmonize age restrictions and implement effective age verification systems at the EU level.
This panel was established following a commitment made by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and gathered specialists in child health and digital safety. Their recommendations build upon earlier guidelines embedded in the Digital Services Act, which called for default privacy protections on children’s accounts, adjustments to content recommendation algorithms, and the disabling of addictive features like autoplay and push notifications aimed at driving excessive use.
In a significant policy push, the Commission highlighted the forthcoming EU age verification app designed to confirm users’ ages with minimal personal data exposure. This tool, intended for deployment by the end of the year, promises to facilitate compliance with national age restrictions while respecting user privacy. It can function independently or integrate with digital identity frameworks already in place within the EU.
The enforcement of these rules has already met practical challenges. The Commission preliminarily found Meta in violation of the Digital Services Act for permitting children under the age of 13 to access platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. This underscores varied enforcement across member states, where age limits range but typically fall between 13 and 16 years. Notably, Spain is discussing a ban on social media use for under-16s, while France leans toward restrictions for those 15 and younger.
These regulatory efforts reflect broader concerns about children's digital safety and the rising use of AI tools. The EU is now weighing how to balance effective protection measures with privacy rights, ensuring that new rules do not become intrusive or discriminatory. The proposed standards also include requirements that age-assurance methods remain accurate, reliable, and non-intrusive to maintain user trust across platforms accessible to minors.