The European Union is preparing to draw a hard line between children and some of the internet’s most powerful platforms.

The proposed EU Kids Act, due to be formally unveiled tomorrow, would ban children under 13 from social media, online games and AI chatbots before moving to a vote among the bloc’s 27 member states.¹ The plan would also create parent-chaperoned “mini accounts” for 13-to-15-year-olds, offering a more restricted route into online services rather than an outright ban for that age group.¹

The proposal is framed as a direct challenge to the assumption that regulators cannot meaningfully curb the reach of major technology companies. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she understood why many people saw Big Tech’s influence as “overwhelming and impossible to roll back,” but added: “I disagree.”¹

Her argument is that the EU should no longer treat platforms’ most troubling design choices as inevitable. “We do not have to accept addictive features,” von der Leyen said, nor must Europe accept children being pulled toward “ever more extreme content.”¹

She also pointed to a distinctly AI-era risk: girls’ photographs being used to produce sexualized AI-generated images.¹ In Brussels’ view, the Kids Act is therefore not simply an age-gating measure. It is an attempt to shift responsibility for child safety away from families alone and back onto the companies building, recommending and monetising digital products.

If approved, the law would put the EU among the most assertive jurisdictions seeking to limit children’s access to social platforms, gaming services and conversational AI.