By Martin Banks

Key new moves are being taken by the EU to boost the online safety of children.

The move reflects growing calls among Europeans for greater protection for children online.

According to polls, some 92% of Europeans consider the need to further strengthen children and young people’s protection online as a top policy priority.

On Thursday, the EU revealed new proposals that prohibits social media platforms from accessing children under the age of 13 and sets an EU-wide minimum age for minors to open an account of their own at the age of 15.

The “KIDS Act”, as it is called, also reverses the burden of proof.

In future, service providers will have to show that their services are age-appropriate and safe by design.

Announcing the new plans in Brussels, comment came from the EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen.

She said: “Today, our children are engaging with the most sophisticated technologies ever created.

“Technology that was never created with their wellbeing in mind.

“Our KIDS Act is reversing the burden of proof – it is for platforms to show they are safe by design. And we put parents back in the driving seat, giving them the tools to help their children navigate a safer online world.”

The proposed EU KIDS Act is structured around four pillars:

1. Social media delay

The EU KIDS Act proposes that children can create autonomous accounts on social media services, only from the age of 15.

For children between 13 and under 15, the proposal calls for parental control, enabling guardians to set up mini accounts that children can access through the guardian’s account.

This would allow them to access age-appropriate social media and video-sharing platforms.

2. Safety-by-design

The Act imposes a number of obligations for all online services offering social media services, video sharing, online video games, AI companions and chatbots to users below the age of 18.

These include a ban on addictive features and profiling-based recommender feeds dragging minors into ‘rabbit holes’ of harmful content. It also includes prohibiting infinite scroll without stopping points, reward tricks, and push notifications during sleeping hours, as well as unsolicited contact from strangers.

3. Privacy-preserving age assurance

Under the proposal, online services and app stores must use age assurance tools. They can, for example, use the EU age verification app, which does not retain identity documents or biometric data, thereby meeting the highest privacy-preserving safeguards.

4. Effective enforcement

The proposal reverses the ‘burden of proof’, making the providers of very large online platforms responsible for proving that their services are ‘safe by design’.

They will be obliged to submit a compliance plan to the Commission.

The draft has been submitted to the European Parliament and Council.

An EC spokesman said, “Considering the clear demand for urgent and comprehensive action at Union level, it is essential that the act is adopted swiftly.”