The EU Just Announced a Social Media Ban for Under-13s

Key Takeaways

• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the EU KIDS Act at the State of the Union address on September 16, 2026.
• Children under 13 would be banned from social media entirely under the proposal.
• Ages 13 to 15 would access platforms through "mini-accounts" with limited features, parental supervision, and a one-hour daily time limit.
• Platforms serving users aged 15 to 18 would be required to apply safe-by-design standards — details on what that means in practice are still to come.
• The proposal covers social media and AI companions. A more detailed legislative text is expected in the coming days or weeks.

Europe's Biggest Move Yet on Kids and Social Media

At the State of the Union address in Strasbourg today, on September 16th, 2026, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the EU KIDS Act — the most sweeping European proposal yet to regulate minors' access to social media. The announcement follows months of mounting pressure from health experts, parents, and politicians across the bloc over the effects of platforms like TikTok and Instagram on the mental health of young people.

The proposal establishes a tiered system based on age. Under-13s would be prohibited from accessing covered platforms entirely. Children aged 13 to 15 would be able to use social media only through restricted "mini-accounts" — limited in features, subject to parental supervision, and capped at one hour of use per day. For users between 15 and 18, platforms would face a safe-by-design obligation, though the Commission hasn't yet detailed what that requires in practice.

What "Safe by Design" Actually Means Is Still an Open Question

The most consequential part of the proposal (and the least defined) is the safe-by-design requirement for the 15 to 18 age bracket. Depending on how the Commission fleshes it out, it could mean anything from algorithmic feed restrictions and autoplay bans to content filtering and interface design mandates. 

The distinction matters enormously: a requirement to turn off addictive design features is a targeted intervention; a requirement to moderate content by category is something closer to a speech obligation.

The mini-account model for 13 to 15-year-olds raises its own questions. Parental supervision requirements have been introduced in other jurisdictions and consistently run into the same problems: parents vary widely in how they apply them, verification of the parental relationship is technically complex, and children with unsupportive or absent parents lose access rather than gain protection.

More Details Are Coming — We'll Keep You Updated

The KIDS Act is currently a proposal. A full legislative text is expected in the coming days or weeks, and what von der Leyen outlined today is the framework rather than the finished law. The Commission will need to work through how age verification interacts with the EU's existing data protection rules under the GDPR, how enforcement falls across member states, and how the safe-by-design standard gets defined with enough precision to be enforceable.

This is a developing story. As the Commission releases further detail on the proposal, we will update our coverage.