The European Commission has put forward plans to bar children under 13 from accessing social media and require platforms to adopt “safe design” measures for users aged 15 to 18.
Delivering her State of the Union address, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was “time for Europe to Act”.
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She said the proposed Kids Act would introduce a “gradual and differentiated approach”.
Under the proposed framework, children under 13 would be prohibited from accessing social media.
Ms von der Leyen said the EU had examined Australia’s approach after it became the first country to introduce a minimum age for social media use.
“What we are witnessing is a great capture of our children. A capture of their attention, their focus, their minds. This is depriving children of their childhood,” Ms von der Leyen said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers her annual State of the Union address
She said children needed “time to grow into themselves, to grow up with others”.
“But when a child has a smartphone, all of this is taken away. Day and night, parents see the cost: loss of sleep, anxiety, even self-harm,” said Ms von der Leyen.
Ms von der Leyen acknowledged that many people view the influence of big tech as overwhelming and “impossible to roll back”.
But she said she did not accept that conclusion.
“We do not have to accept addictive features. We do not have to accept children being drawn into ever more extreme content. We do not have to accept that girls have their photos used for AI-generated sexualised images,” Ms von der Leyen said.
She said social media platforms would “have to prove they are safe”.
“Because it is not about our minors accessing social media. It is about when and how do we allow social media to access minors.
“Europe has the power to act. It is us who decide our rules, not big tech,” she added.
Government welcomes proposed ban
The Minister for Arts, Culture, Communications, Media and Sport Patrick O’Donovan has welcomed the European Commission’s proposed ban on social media access for children under 13.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Minister O’Donovan said the proposals “tick a lot of the boxes that Ireland was wishing for”.
He said he wanted to avoid unnecessary delays in putting the plan into effect, adding that the Government had already begun engaging with the European Commission today.
Minister O’Donovan said that, after being appointed Minister in 2025, he began campaigning at EU Council meetings and through bilateral discussions to build cooperation within the European Council.
He said he welcomed the emergence of a European-wide approach, which he had advocated, and believed that forming an alliance across Europe was a far stronger route.
Department officials had already begun discussions with the European Commission today, he said, with a further meeting planned for tomorrow.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Finance described the EU’s proposed measures as “a landmark day”.
Simon Harris said parents’ concerns had “literally been heard by governments right across Europe”, which he described as highly significant.
“We’ve always said as a Government that moving at an EU level is the most impactful way.”
“It’s also good for industry in terms of clarity and not having 27 different regimes. So, I think that’s really, really significant,” he added.
Minister Harris said the Irish Presidency of the EU would “prioritise moving forward any child safety measures that may materialise in the coming days”.
“We do need to see the detail of all of this, but it sounds to me to be a more sophisticated proposal than perhaps people considered,” he said.
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AI comes with ‘balance of possibilities and risks’
The European Commission President also described artificial intelligence as one of the defining tipping points of the modern era, saying AI carries “a balance of possibilities and risks”.
She said the EU would never be able to unlock AI’s potential without first addressing those risks.
She added that the dangers posed by self-improving models were becoming increasingly clear.
“Incidents of AI agents escaping their environment or inserting malicious code are a glimpse. After the HuggingFace incident, developers are ringing the alarm.
“And CEOs of the most advanced companies tell us that it is time to slow down on the self-recursive models. To pace the frontier,” she said.
Ms von der Leyen said the AI Act was “a crucial piece to put in place guardrails”, placing Europe “in the position to shape global efforts of how to tackle this”.
She said the EU would work with Canada, the UK and other partners “to team up on model evaluation, verification, early-warning, AI security and much more”.
Read more: Zuckerberg says AI labs have enough incentive to build safely
She said she would invite the leading frontier labs to discuss how the Commission could support industry efforts to pace the frontier.
“It is also true that Europe will need its own capabilities, in particular to protect our national security,” she said.
Ms von der Leyen said Europe needed to “massively boost” its computing capacity.
“We need to stay in the race. Because this is crucial for our independence. So we need to massively boost our computing capacity. And we will set out our ideas for how to achieve this in a clean and efficient way,” she said.
She told MEPS that the Commission was concentrating on five high-value sectors in which industrial AI offered the greatest potential.
She said the European Commission would unveil “game changing” initiatives in health, transport, agri-food, advanced manufacturing, and defence and space.
“We will invite Member States, MEPs, industry and entrepreneurs to join us in this ambitious European project.”
“Our approach is clear: We want AI. We want AI to create more value more responsibly. And at a lower cost and with less energy consumption. But above all, we want AI with human agency,” she said.
She also said the Quality Jobs Act would be delivered before the end of the year.
“AI must help develop skills, improve the quality of jobs, and give workers a fair chance,” Ms von der Leyen added.
