Remarks by Executive Vice-President Virkkunen on the EU KIDS Act

As the President said, we need to take control of our kids' future.

Parents, teachers, national leaders, children, they have all been talking to me about the harmful impact of social media on children and teenagers.

We all know that social media are only about grabbing attention and keeping children glued to their screen.

This has to stop.

With our KIDS Act, we are building on our on-going efforts in minors' protection. 

Because protecting minors online remains our absolute priority. The EU KIDS Act builds on the system we have already put in place to protect children. We have behind us 3 years of Digital Services Act enforcement.

With investigations against TikTok and Meta, including on the protection of minors - addictive designs, rabbit-hole effects, weak age assurance, endless feeds of harmful content.

We came to preliminary conclusions against major pornographic platforms, all failing to put effective age verifications in place.

The same goes for artificial intelligence.

The President spoke about girls, and boys, finding their photos turned into AI-generated sexualised images.

Let me be clear: this is illegal - whether real or AI-generated. This is not only illegal, this is outrageous.

Here too, we have the tools in place. The AI Act prohibits AI systems that manipulate people or exploit the vulnerabilities of children. Those prohibitions are fully in force, and we will enforce them strongly.

But today we go a step further, with the EU KID Act, tailored for our most vulnerable ones.

We need to ensure children enter the online world gradually, in a safe environment, being only exposed to age-appropriate content.

So we need to be very clear on the limits. Below 13, no accounts.

Between the age of 13 and 15, children will be able to access social media only through guardian's accounts.

At this age, guardians play a crucial role to set up essential safeguards, such as time limits, pre-approving new contacts; or even a maximum limit of users their child can access.

Another element, and the most important one, are the safety-by-design rules. The KIDS Act includes a clear list of do's and don'ts.  And this applies to all users under the age of 18.

For instance, strangers cannot message kids, kids can't get targeted with personalised ads or algorithms based on past activity. And especially, no more addictive features.

And let me be clear: social media platforms, video sharing platforms, AI companions and AI chatbots and online videogames, all must meet safety obligations.

Let me give you an example of what “safety by design” means:

Take AI chatbots and ‘AI companions'. With the EU KIDS Act, they can no longer act like human friends in ways that make children emotionally dependent on them.

Chatbots inside kids' games or apps can't turn on by themselves, can't be pushed to children, and must be easy to switch off.

And as I said, these rules must be there by default. In Europe, it is now for companies to prove their services are safe. And we expect them to test the risks to children before launch and monitor the harm afterwards.

For these measures to be truly effective, the EU KIDS Act puts in place a robust framework on age verification, age assurance and parental guidance.  Proving your age online should be easy - and it should reveal nothing else about you. Absolutely nothing else than your age.

Because for parents and children, our solutions must be simple and empowering.

Parental tools should be easy, interoperable and on by default. And proving parental responsibility should take one click.

Big Tech don't get to decide how our children spend their days. We want to empower parents and guardians, without putting all the responsibility on them.

Being safe online does not mean giving up other rights: access to age-appropriate information, privacy, participation and expression remain guaranteed, by default and by design.

We will take this proposal forward with Member States, industry, civil society, researchers - and with children and young people themselves.

With the KIDS Act, we want to give parenting back to parents.

And childhood back to children.