Brussels has made up its mind: no more compromises on protecting minors online. The European Union is preparing the Kids Act, a law that promises to radically change the way young people access social networks. It is not a recommendation: it is a legal clampdown involving Meta, TikTok, Google and every platform that hosts content for the under-18s.
The cornerstone of the proposal is simple, at least on paper. Children under 13 will not be able to have a personal account on any social media platform. No Facebook, no Instagram, no TikTok, no X (the old Twitter). The ban is clear-cut and categorical. For teenagers aged 13 to 14, a different approach is planned: mini accounts supervised by parents, with tight controls on who can contact them, how much content they can view and what they can share.
The Kids Act goes beyond social media
But the Kids Act does not stop there. The legislation extends the rules to chatbots, online gaming platforms, streaming services and app stores. In short, any digital service aimed at minors will face stricter requirements. It is a holistic view of online protection, not the usual patch on one specific sector. Europe is saying explicitly: tech platforms being left to their own devices to attract minors is no longer enough.
Personally, I find this all-encompassing approach logical. There is no sense in banning TikTok for a thirteen-year-old and then letting them chat with an unsupervised chatbot or play for hours in an unregulated multiplayer game. Either we truly protect minors, or we admit we are putting on a show.
The crux: really verifying age
This is where everything gets complicated. On paper the ban is clear-cut, but how is it enforced in the real world? Online age verification is the Achilles' heel of any rule of this kind. Minors have always found a way to create fake accounts: they do it in a few minutes, with just an email address and an invented date of birth. Tech platforms have already tried everything: verification by card number, facial recognition, direct checks with parents. Nothing has worked 100%.
The EU knows this perfectly well. That is why the Kids Act pays particular attention to this aspect: platforms will have to put "credible" verification systems in place. But this is where the trouble starts. The law is not yet precise about what that means exactly. The risk is twofold: either companies race to the bottom, implementing weak checks so as not to scare off adult users with overly invasive procedures, or the opposite, verification systems so strict that they breach privacy and spark protests from digital rights activists.
Let's put it this way: Meta and TikTok are already promising to cooperate with European regulators, but is their real interest in protecting minors, or in limiting the damage to business models built on data collection and advertising? The answer will depend on how well national governments can monitor actual compliance with the law, not on the voluntary promises of the companies.
What changes for readers in Italy
For an Italian parent, this means two concrete things. First: if they have a child under 13 who uses social media, officially they should soon no longer be able to. Second: platforms will have to adapt to EU rules, and since the European Parliament has not yet decided all the implementation details, there will be a period of regulatory chaos. Some companies will try to resist in court, others will implement the bare minimum of checks.
The Italian data protection authority will also have to act accordingly, coordinating with other European authorities to monitor compliance. This is not an imaginary scenario: the GDPR has already shown how this kind of European enforcement works, with multimillion-euro fines for those who do not comply.
In my view, though, the real test will not be in the written rules. It will be in the real ability to enforce them when Meta and its peers try to get around the limit with technical workarounds. History teaches us that tech companies are creative at finding grey areas.
The general lesson, and the doubts that remain
The Kids Act is an important political signal. Europe is saying "the web's permissiveness towards minors is no longer enough". It is a change of paradigm compared with the last twenty years, when the web grew up with very lax rules on young people.
But concrete and important doubts remain. A pure ban only works if monitoring and enforcement are serious and constant. If not, it becomes a law on paper. Minors will carry on using social media with stolen or borrowed accounts, while parents will feel falsely protected. And companies will have their perfect excuse: "The law forbids it, it's not our fault."
Whether it will be genuine protection or purely regulatory cover, we will only find out once the Kids Act actually comes into force and we have hard data on real compliance and measurable effects. Until then, it is a bet made with good intentions, but without guarantees.
When does the Kids Act come into force?
The Kids Act is still being drafted and debated at EU level. It is not yet final law. The timing of approval and entry into force depends on negotiations between the Commission, Parliament and the European Council, usually a process lasting months or years.
What happens to existing profiles of under-13s?
The original article does not specify the implementation details. Presumably platforms will be obliged to suspend or deactivate the accounts, but it will depend on the final rules and the transition arrangements the EU defines.
How will they really verify age?
The law requires "credible" verification systems, but the technical details are not yet final. They will probably use a combination of facial recognition, document checks and checks with parents, but it will all depend on the final specifications of the Kids Act.
Adapted from: Macitynet.it
Translated from the Italian original. Read in Italian
