EU Kids Act

Yeah, the Houthis are going hard at the moment.

Let's go EU Kids Act, right? So now the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

That is especially true with the internet.

The EU Kids Act wants to add age verification to, let's do the quote, must establish that the recipient of a service or user of a system is an adult.

So basically, they're basically trying to say that if you have anything running online, you have to establish the person using it is who they say they are effectively.

And they just want to

So there's a few issues there and the cost is the big one though.

And it's going to be real imposition on indie devs.

We've had some really big cases, um, in the States.

There's also, a case has been investigated here in Ireland and across Europe, and then we've just had that landmark EU Kids Act been published.

So I think that the, the platforms themselves are starting to understand change is coming, and they better get on board or they're gonna face massive fines.

So our committee really welcomes the EU Kids Act, um, that was just, that was just published, uh, which really looks at, you know, no social media for under 13s, um, in, in the traditional sense.

There is a fund there for, for children themselves to design a safe space.

I know Foróga here in Ireland has a virtual space that's very safe.

Um, but then you're looking at, you know, between 13 to 15, it's limited and age appropriate with parental supervision, and then, you know, at a later stage, then getting, you know, au-autonomous accounts that have safety by design built in.

So our recommendations really, along with our 45 recommendations in the report, are, you know, for, for the government here when they're transposing that EU Kids Act to, to take our recommendations also on board, um, transpose the act, but then also see does it need to be strengthened domestic, domestically here as, as well, and make sure that we're making, making the likes of Commissioner Mann appropriately resourced, um, and getting that digital literacy embedded across, across the, the full curriculum.

I'm very well.

We're talking this morning about the EU Kids Act.

Okay, for any of the listeners who maybe haven't heard about this on the news, it is only fresh.

What exactly is the EU Kids Act, please?

Well, it was a big announcement as part of the State of the Union address from the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.

So that's her big annual speech that she makes to members of European Parliament and us as citizens, and declaring what they're going to do over the next year.

Basically, their, their work in progress.

So the EU Kids Act was one of the headline items, and it's actually an acronym.

Loot boxes, loot boxes.

Speaking of loot boxes, Stop Killing Games Movement sounds the alarm on the EU Kids Act.

This is coming from Justin Olivetti over at MassivelyOP.

Stop Killing Games Movement sounds the alarm on the EU Kids Act.

Quote, this is a bomb that could implode the whole video game industry, end quote.

Good intentions don't always make up for poor decisions.

This is the argument that the Stop Killing Games movement is making this week as it rails against the proposed EU Kids Act, which it says could become a bomb that could implode the whole video game industry.

As we reported last month, the EU Kids Act is a proposal that seeks to protect children from exploitative video game practices by limiting login time, granting more parental controls, and requiring transparent monetization.

Brussels also proposed requiring safety standards for AI companions and chatbots before they are made available to children.

Under the proposed EU Kids Act, chatbots designed to foster emotional dependency through simulated personal bonds would be prohibited if the measure is adopted.

The proposal followed reports linking such tools to several suicides among minors.

In August, ChatGPT became the first AI chat tool added to the EU's list of very large digital platforms, bringing heightened obligations under the Digital Services Act.