关键信息
Last week, the EU Commission presented a draft law known as the EU Kids Act, which aims to protect minors from risks related to video games, social media, and AI systems through age-based access rules and safety requirements. However, the Electronic Frontier Foundation reports that the proposal will put online services behind age gates and expand intrusive age verification.
The proposal outlines a phased access system for risky platforms utilizing personalized recommender systems or uninterrupted content consumption. Children under 13 would have no service accounts, users aged 13 to 15 would have restricted accounts under strict parental supervision, and those aged 15 to 18 would receive autonomous accounts in a safe-by-design environment, reserving full online access for adults.
Additionally, the safety-by-design pillar applies broadly to video-sharing, social media, online games, chatbots, AI companions, and app stores. Providers must enforce child-safe design defaults unless age assurance proves a user is an adult, introducing contact protections for online games and age-rating systems for app stores.
The EFF notes that the proposal exempts open-source software platforms, not-for-profit encyclopedias, educational services, and scientific repositories, but provides no exceptions for small and medium-sized enterprises. Furthermore, the Kids Act did not undergo a full impact assessment process before its introduction.
