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SOTEU 2026: Platforms will have to prove they are safe for kids
The EU Commission has taken up 5Rights’ long-standing demand to reverse the burden of proof – platforms will soon have to prove their services are safe for kids, not wait for harm to happen first.
Today, the EU Commission President took up 5Right’s long-standing demand to reverse the burden of proof. Instead of waiting for children to be harmed, the EU will soon require tech companies to prove their services are safe before they can access kids.
One year since Ursula von der Leyen announced a special expert panel to determine how Europe could make tech safe for kids, the President today announced an EU Kids Act that will set harmonised rules for tech platforms across the single market.
With 5Rights experts closely engaged in all stages of the Special Panel’s work and the 5Rights-led EU Coalition for Children’s Rights Online actively building consensus among experts and communities across Europe, the result is a narrative and policy approach that closely mirrors those pioneered and championed by 5Rights
“We are reversing the burden of proof,” said von der Leyen. “Platforms will have to prove that they are safe. Because it is not about out minors accessing social media. It is about when and how we allow social media to access our minors.”
The President announced a gradual and differentiated approach to regulating tech services including social media, games and AI chatbots, a ban on some high-risk services to under 13s, heavily restricting what can be offered to under 15s and setting out robust safe design obligations for all services accessible to under 18s.
Leanda Barrington-Leach, Executive Director at 5Rights Foundation, said:
“The days of tech exceptionalism and their systematic exploitation of children for profit, are numbered. President von der Leyen has promised to put the weight of EU law firmly behind children’s digital safety. That tech will have to prove they are safe for kids, with protections that evolve as children grow, is a turning point.
“The devil is of course in the detail. Tomorrow’s proposal must be coherent, comprehensive, future-proof and robustly enforceable. Children must be safe wherever they are – whether on social media, games, AI, EdTech or new emerging tech services – and parents must be given the peace of mind of an EU tech safety label.”
