The EU is to propose a ban on unsupervised use of social media for under-15s, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said, following years of pressure from member states such as France and Greece on the issue.

“No social media under the age of 13. No personal account under the age of 15,” said von der Leyen at a speech in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

“Europe has the power to act,” she said.

The Kids Act, details of which are to be made public on Thursday, is to propose tiered levels of access for minors to services including social media platforms and AI chatbots, according to draft proposals that circulated earlier this week.

Von der Leyen said the proposals will also oblige platforms to institute safety measures and prove that they work.

“We are reversing the burden of proof. Platforms will have to prove to us that they are safe,” she said.

“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,” she added.

Security planning

Under the proposals, social media platforms, online gaming services and AI chatbots will be obliged to introduce safeguards to curb abuse and addictive behaviours, while AI chatbots and AI companions will have to avoid addictive design features that encourage unhealthy emotional attachments or expose children to harmful exchanges.

According to the draft, companies must verify users’ ages via an official verification app and could be fined up to 6 percent of their global annual turnover for non-compliance.

Von der Leyen’s state of the union address also included an unprecedented invitation to Canada to become an “associate member” of the EU and pledged to set out proposals for a European security council including Canada, Norway, Ukraine and the UK.