State of the Union Speech: The EU-KIDS Act Must Not Remain Just a Promise – DSA Obligations Have Long Been in Effect
With the proposed EU KIDS Act, the European Commission aims to significantly strengthen the protection of young people in the digital space: Social networks, video platforms, online games, as well as AI chatbots and AI companions are to be subject to age-appropriate access, effective age verification, and mandatory safety standards.
With the proposed EU KIDS Act, the European Commission aims to significantly strengthen the protection of young people in the digital space: Social networks, video platforms, online games, as well as AI chatbots and AI companions are to be subject to age-appropriate access, effective age verification, and mandatory safety standards.
HateAid welcomes the European Commission’s intention to strengthen the protection of children and adolescents in the digital space at the European level. A uniform European framework can prevent countries from going forward alone nationally, create legal certainty, and ensure that children are protected equally across all member states. An approach requiring platforms to demonstrate the safety of their services for minors would be an important step. This would shift the burden of proof to where it belongs: on the tech companies.
However, it is also a fact that the obligations to protect children and adolescents online have long been in place. Since February 2024, Article 28 of the Digital Services Act has required platforms accessible to minors to maintain a high level of privacy, security, and protection.
Josephine Ballon, co-executive director of HateAid, said:
“It is possible to hold tech companies accountable, but currently, this happens mainly on a case-by-case basis through the courts when individual users take action. The DSA could already provide better protection for children if the European Commission were to enforce it consistently. A new law must not give platforms an excuse to further delay compliance with the DSA at the expense of children and young people.”
Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, co-executive director of HateAid, said:
“Every day, children and adolescents across Europe are exposed to pornography, violent videos, or extremist content. They become victims of sexual abuse and are driven by algorithms into anorexia or self-harm. Adolescents must no longer be the guinea pigs of a business model designed to maximize attention. For years, tech companies have ignored the risks posed by their algorithms while simultaneously optimizing mechanisms to maximize user engagement. And we, as a society, have stood by and watched. Ms. von der Leyen must finally turn her words into action and have the courage to take on the tech companies and, by extension, the U.S. government. She owes that to our children.”
The European Commission is already conducting proceedings under the DSA against several major platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pornhub. However, some of these proceedings have been dragging on for years. To date, no fines have been imposed and no final decisions have been made regarding violations of Article 28 of the DSA. This is unacceptable, especially when it comes to protecting children and adolescents.
HateAid therefore calls for:
- Existing rules must finally be consistently enforced. Very large platforms must, in accordance with the new legislative proposal, publicly disclose how they assess and mitigate risks to minors. The European Commission already presented guidelines last year outlining the measures expected of platforms as minimum standards for the protection of children. The special protective measures for children and adolescents under Article 28 of the DSA must finally be implemented. Violations of these provisions must be met with strict sanctions, such as the imposition of fines and expanded oversight measures.
- “Safety by Design” must become the standard. This means that the protection of children and adolescents would be incorporated into the design of platforms from the very beginning. We welcome the burden of proof for tech platforms that von der Leyen has proposed. What applies to young people naturally applies across the board. We demand that platforms be designed in such a way that the harm they cause to individuals and to our democracy is minimized.
- Children and adolescents have a right to participate online as well. Effective protection requires age-appropriate access, such as the tiered model for those under 15 proposed by von der Leyen. Accordingly, children under 13 should in the future only be able to use services through strictly protected accounts fully managed by legal guardians; for 13- to 15-year-olds, introductory accounts with limited contact with strangers, screen time limits, and parental controls are planned before they can set up their own accounts at age 15. In addition, child-friendly business models are to be specifically promoted as alternatives to already established platforms.
HateAid gGmbH
The nonprofit organization HateAid was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Berlin. It advocates for human rights in the digital sphere and works at both the societal and political levels to combat digital violence and its consequences. HateAid provides concrete support to victims of digital violence through counseling and legal cost financing. Its executive directors are Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon.
HateAid is the recipient of the 2023 Theodor Heuss Medal, the Rothenburg Prize for Remembrance and the Future, the Values Prize for Democracy from the Werte Foundation, and the For..Net Award from the Technical University of Munich. In 2025, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg accepted the Federal Cross of Merit on behalf of the NGO.
Presse contact: presse@hateaid.org
