Tim Cook praises EU law that would bring age checks to app stores

Apple's executive chairman Tim Cook has praised the European Union's push to protect children online, including a draft law that would put app stores and operating systems inside its age verification rules. Cook visited the European Parliament in Strasbourg on October 6 and met its President Roberta Metsola, AFP reported. He said Apple is "committed to providing a safe and trusted platform for kids" and welcomed the Parliament's push for a harmonised, Europe-wide framework. In the United States, Apple has argued against making app stores check users' ages.

What the EU KIDS Act would require

The European Commission proposed the EU KIDS Act on September 17. Under the draft, children under 13 could not have social media or video-sharing accounts. Parents could open "introductory accounts" for 13- and 14-year-olds, with a one-hour daily limit, a list of contacts the parent approves and parental controls that cannot be switched off. From 15, teenagers could have their own accounts, but only on services that meet the law's safety-by-design rules, which include a ban on autoplay, infinite scroll and streaks for minors. Our country-by-country list of social media age limits already includes the proposal.

Social media platforms would not be allowed to rely on users typing in their birth date. They would have to use age verification certified under an EU scheme and built on zero-knowledge proofs, which tell the service only whether a user is above or below the age limit. The long-term tool is the EU Digital Identity Wallet, with the Commission's open-source age verification app as a stopgap. The Commission admits the app still has security issues to fix: in April it was hacked in under two minutes. Every member state would have to offer at least one free way to prove age.

Existing accounts would have to be re-checked within six months of the rules taking effect, and accounts of users under 15, or of users whose age cannot be established, would be disabled. App stores and operating systems are in scope, and the draft says other services may rely on age checks offered by app stores. These can use "alternative age assurance" methods if they are accurate, secure and privacy-preserving. Fines could reach 6% of worldwide annual turnover, as under the Digital Services Act.

Apple's different message in the US

In December 2025, Cook met members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee before it took up the App Store Accountability Act, a bill that would make app stores verify the age of their users. According to iClarified, he urged lawmakers to drop that requirement and to let parents enter their child's age when setting up an account instead. Apple's global head of privacy, Hilary Ware, wrote to the committee that the bill "could threaten the privacy of all App Store users". Apple made a similar case against a Texas law, warning that it would force the collection of sensitive personal information from every Texan who wants to download an app.

The two positions are not identical. The US bills put the whole age check on the app store. The EU draft makes social networks responsible for verified checks and lets app stores use lighter methods. Meta, by contrast, has lobbied for app stores to carry that burden. Digital rights site Reclaim The Net argues that, by backing the EU law, Apple accepts that its own products could become age checkpoints. Australia has already moved some age checks into app stores, and its Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met Cook two weeks before the Strasbourg visit to seek industry support for the country's rules.

What happens next

The KIDS Act is still a proposal. The Parliament and the 27 member states will each amend it before agreeing a final text, and the result may differ substantially. The Digital Services Act took about two years from proposal to adoption. If the current draft survives, anyone in the EU signing up for social media would have to prove their age with a certified tool, and teenagers who already have accounts would face the same check.