On 17 September 2026 the European Commission adopted a proposal for the EU KIDS Act (COM(2026) 681 final, procedure 2026/0286 COD), a standalone regulation extending child-safety duties to digital services accessible to minors — including, for the first time, AI companions and general conversational chatbots.
Article 14 would require companion and chatbot providers to run state-of-the-art child-safety risk testing before market, avoid designs likely to create emotional dependency in minors, default to not carrying a minor's prior interactions forward, and offer guardian tools for under-13s. Embedded chatbots inside social networks, video platforms and games would face an additional no-auto-activation rule. Enforcement would route through Chapter IX of the AI Act, with fines up to 6% of global turnover for intentional or negligent breaches.
Crucially, this is a proposal, not yet law: it must still be adopted by the European Parliament and Council, and nothing binds providers today. If enacted, it would layer on top of the EU AI Act obligations already enforceable for companion apps since August 2026. Our 2026 industry report tracks the widening regulatory gap between the US and EU.