Dr. Kaspar Rosager Ludvigsen
@kasparrosager.bsky.social
1.3K followers 1.3K following 937 posts
Assistant Professor, Durham University. DK lawyer/jurist (EU Law/CPS/AI/MD/Safety). Formerly Edinburgh University, Newcastle University. PhD (CS), Cybersecurity/Law, University of Strathclyde. Law and Technology. Gourmand. ORCID: 0000-0001-7243-2548
![Are EU Kidding Me? Notes from a Poorly Drafted Social
Media Ban
Michael Veale
Faculty of Laws, UCL and IViR, University of Amsterdam
Cite as: 11 Geo. L. Tech. Rev. _ (2026)
[2026] 11 Georgetown Law Technology Review _
doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/fwjpq_v1
files.michae.lv/papers/veale_areEUkiddingme.pdf
October 12, 2026
ABSTRACT
In September 2026, the European Commission published a proposed EU KIDS Act, responding to the
demand for restrictions and further design obligations applying to digital services accessible to children,
including social media. This Article argues that regardless of what one believes about the merits of this
policy direction, the EU KIDS Act is not the legislative text we need. The scope and drafting are little
short of chaotic, full of holes, enormous ambiguities, and unintended consequences. Recitals contradict
articles. The use of scope borrowed from other pieces of legislation not designed for this purpose brings
services into scope that should not be subject to the relevant provisions, like book-recommendation
websites, music services, or exercise trackers. The infrastructural requirement for assurance of age and
parental responsibility attestation simply omits enormous issues of complex families and childhoods.
Complex design obligations are written in ways that can be plausibly interpreted as implicitly prohibiting
entire swathes of products, such as voice assistants. This Article outlines these issues, and many more.
The Commission should withdraw this proposal and reissue a workable and realistic tex](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ujstglmdsoymx3t2yffcvgtm/bafkreifz5rhzj7o4oyfrniolq5vp3n55snkqm3xld7btnkrf6u5pd6pvqe)
