EU Bans Emotional Chatbots for Minors — SkimNews
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- EU Kids Act would ban chatbots from simulating emotions or interpersonal relationships with anyone under 18, with digital platforms facing fines up to 6% of worldwide turnover for failing to build child-safety protections.
- Children under 13 would be banned from accessing chatbots without guardian supervision, and chatbots operating in the EU would be prohibited from retaining memory between separate conversations to prevent accumulation of sensitive minor data.
- Online platforms would be barred from automatically activating or pinning AI chatbots to the top of minors' contact lists — a practice the Commission specifically singled out as done by Snapchat.
- An Ipsos BVA survey of France, Germany, Sweden, and Ireland found roughly half of Europeans aged 11 to 25 have discussed intimate or personal matters with AI chatbots, underscoring the scale of exposure the legislation targets.
- OECD research spanning 91 countries found that children who use AI chatbots for schoolwork score lower on tests than those who don't, which the Commission cites as evidence of cognitive harm.
- Simeon de Brouwer of European Digital Rights welcomed the chatbot measures but argued the restrictions should extend to all users, not just minors: "don't we all deserve to be protected from AIs designed to be addictive."
- Australia and the UK are both attempting to restrict minors' access to chatbots through their own social media bans, placing the EU's proposal within a broader international regulatory trend.
Why it matters: Platforms that have built AI companions into their products face redesign costs, with noncompliance penalties reaching 6% of worldwide turnover. The EU's separate Digital Fairness Act, due later this year, targets addictive design more broadly — a direction critics argue should extend to all users, not just minors.
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