A minimum age of 15. Mandatory age verification before creating an account. Fines worth up to 6% of global annual revenue for non-compliance. The European Commission’s proposed EU Kids Act arrives before the European Parliament on Thursday, 17 September — and its scope extends well beyond social media into online gaming territory that will catch many players off guard.
What the EU Kids Act Actually Proposes
The EU Kids Act is proposed legislation designed to protect children from harm in digital environments. Though it has been in discussion for more than a year, Thursday marks its first formal presentation to Parliament — the opening move in what will be a lengthy legislative process requiring approval from both the Parliament and EU member state governments.
Under the draft framework, the minimum autonomous age for accessing social media platforms, AI chatbots, and certain online gaming services would be set at 15. Younger users face tiered restrictions: children aged 3 to 12 would be limited to curated, supervised content requiring full parental involvement, while those aged 13 and 14 could access platforms only under mandatory parental controls with daily usage caps in place.
Documents obtained by Euractiv indicate the Act “will oblige providers of social media services and video-sharing platforms to perform age verification when a user opens a new account.” Critically for gamers, those requirements would extend to “online games that are risky to minors” — a classification with plenty of scope for debate during legislative proceedings.
Key point: The EU Kids Act explicitly includes online gaming within its age verification requirements. Industrial AI, educational platforms, and AI office tools are not targeted under the current proposals.
How Age Verification Would Work in Practice
The European Commission’s preferred approach centres on privacy-preserving digital technologies — tools that confirm only whether a user is above a certain age threshold without revealing their precise age or personal details. EU Digital Identity Wallets, national ID cards, bank card confirmation, and mobile number checks are all cited as potential verification methods, though these vary depending on what member states make available.
Platforms will be required to integrate these systems before users can open new accounts. The Act’s financial penalties are modelled on the Digital Services Act, with non-compliant platforms facing fines up to 6% of their global annual revenue — a significant number for the technology companies that dominate gaming distribution and online platforms.
Part of a Wider Shift in Online Age Checks
The EU Kids Act doesn’t emerge in isolation. PlayStation rolled out age verification checks across Ireland and the UK in April, requiring players to confirm their age before accessing certain network features including voice chat, messaging, and streaming. Acceptable methods include facial scanning, mobile number verification, and ID document submission, though the options available vary by country or region.
Australia introduced mandatory proof-of-age verification on Steam earlier this month for games rated R18+, though in a somewhat limiting move, only Australian credit cards are currently accepted as proof — presenting real difficulties for adult players who do not have one.
Discord had announced a global age verification rollout before pausing its plans after a third-party security incident exposed approximately 70,000 images of government IDs. The platform acknowledged it had “missed the mark” and stepped back to reassess.
What It Means for the Gaming Industry
The practical impact on everyday gamers depends heavily on how “risky to minors” is ultimately defined in law. Whether mainstream multiplayer titles, competitive online games, or social gaming platforms fall into scope will be contested at length before any final text is agreed.
What is already clear is the direction of travel. Age verification across gaming and digital platforms has shifted from a scattered series of national experiments to something increasingly resembling a coordinated European standard. The UK’s Online Safety Act already obligates platforms to estimate or verify users’ ages, and Ofcom is finalising the technical standards for what compliant age assurance looks like. The EU Kids Act is the most ambitious proposal yet in that direction.
Thursday’s presentation to Parliament is only the beginning. For platform holders and game publishers with large European player bases, the coming months of legislative debate will be worth watching closely. The definition of “risky to minors” could end up being the most consequential four words in the entire Act.
