EU drafts ban on AI chatbots for under-15s
The European Commission is preparing to propose the "EU Kids Act," a legislative framework designed to restrict minors under the age of 15 from accessing AI chatbots, social media platforms, and video-sharing services. Under the reported proposal, digital access would follow a tiered system: children aged 3 to 12 would face an outright ban, teens aged 13 to 14 would only be permitted limited "introductory accounts" with parental consent and strict time caps, and users 15 and older could create standard accounts. To enforce these rules, tech platforms would be required to deploy robust age-verification mechanisms and pay supervisory fees to fund enforcement across EU member states.
Treating generative AI chatbots with the same blunt prohibitions as algorithmic social feeds will stifle early digital literacy while sparking severe privacy backlashes over mandatory age checks. Mandating strict age gates inevitably requires invasive digital ID verification or facial scanning, creating substantial data privacy and surveillance concerns for all users. Grouping conversational AI tools and educational assistants into the same restrictive category as addictive social feeds ignores the distinct educational benefits of AI. Tech companies will face compounding compliance overhead and supervisory fees, widening the innovation and adoption gap between Europe and the rest of the world. Tech-savvy teens are likely to circumvent client-side age gates using VPNs or unmonitored open-source models, undermining the safety objectives of the regulation.
DISCOVERED
1h ago
2026-09-15
PUBLISHED
1h ago
2026-09-14
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Romka2x