The European Commission presented its proposal for the EU KIDS Act, Keeping Internet Digital Spaces Accountable and Trustworthy, on 17 September 2026. This is a Commission proposal at the opening of the ordinary legislative procedure. It now passes to the European Parliament and the Council, its terms can change before adoption, and nothing in it binds providers yet.
The proposal limits autonomous account creation by children below the age of 15 on online social networking services and video sharing platforms, setting one age across the European Union in place of diverging national rules. For AI companions and chatbots it reaches product design: services accessible to minors may not use designs that simulate human relationships in ways likely to create emotional dependency, and by default may not carry a child's earlier conversations into later ones. Children under 13 reach AI companions and chatbots only through parental control tools.
Providers of social networking and video sharing services offering accounts in the European Union must be able to show an age position for minor accounts rather than rest on self declaration, because the proposal puts the burden on the provider to show that a service is age appropriate and safe by design. Operators of AI companion products face a pre-market step, since an AI companion would not launch until the provider demonstrates compliance and has monitoring in place for emerging risks. The Commission would supervise AI chatbots widely used in the European Union directly, with national authorities taking other AI systems.
Fines reach 6 percent of total worldwide annual turnover. The Commission has set preliminary findings within 30 days and a final decision targeted within 90 days. Enforcement for online platforms builds on the existing structures under the Digital Services Act and, for AI companions and chatbots, on the AI Act, so a provider already inside either regime should expect its existing supervisory relationship to carry the new duties rather than a separate authority arriving. The age threshold and the treatment of AI companions are the two points most likely to move during the Parliament and Council stages.
Licentium advises providers of AI companion products, social networking services and video sharing platforms on European Union regulatory exposure and on the interaction between the Digital Services Act, the AI Act and incoming duties on the protection of minors. Work we undertake includes assessing whether a conversational product falls within the proposed AI companion definition, reviewing age assurance design against the proposal, and preparing positions for the Parliament and Council stages.