The New Rules for AI and Kids: COPPA 2.0 and the EU AI Act, Explained

COPPA (United States) — the existing baseline

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act has been US law since 1998. In short, it requires online services to get verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13, and to limit how that data is used. It's the reason so many apps set 13 as their minimum age — staying above the COPPA line reduces a lot of legal burden.

The catch: COPPA only covers under-13s, and it was written long before AI chatbots existed. That gap is what newer rules are trying to close.

COPPA 2.0 — the proposed update

A long-discussed update, often called COPPA 2.0, has been advancing through the US Congress. The headline changes being proposed would:

• Raise the age of digital consent from 13 to 16 — a significant shift that would extend protections to older teens.
• Ban targeted advertising to minors.
• Give children (and parents) the right to delete a child's personal data.

If it becomes law, the practical effect is that services would have to treat 13–15 year olds with much more care than today. As of writing, it has moved through committee stages but still requires full votes — so treat it as likely-direction, not settled law.

Chatbot-specific rules (United States)

Lawmakers have started writing rules aimed squarely at AI chatbots and minors. Two proposals worth knowing:

• A chatbot-safety bill (often referenced as the SAFEBOTs Act) would require AI chatbots to implement specific safety measures when interacting with children.
• An alert-focused bill (the AWARE Act) would require platforms to notify parents when a child searches for terms related to self-harm or suicide. This one is debated even among mental-health experts, because some teens may avoid searching for help if they know it triggers a notification.

Individual US states have also begun passing their own chatbot-safety laws, so requirements can vary by state.

The EU AI Act — Europe's framework

The EU AI Act is the world's first comprehensive AI law. It takes a risk-based approach: the higher the potential for harm, the stricter the obligations. For families, the relevant themes are transparency (people should know when they're interacting with AI), protections against manipulative or exploitative design, and particular care for vulnerable groups, including children. It applies to companies offering AI services to people in the EU, wherever those companies are based.

The UK Online Safety Act

The UK has moved to bring AI chatbots under its Online Safety Act — the same regime that governs social media. In practice that means chatbot providers face child-safety duties comparable to other online platforms, with a regulator able to enforce them. It's part of the same broad pattern: chatbots are no longer treated as a special exception.

Switzerland and the broader picture

Switzerland's revised Federal Act on Data Protection (revFADP/FADP) sets strong data-protection standards that align closely with European norms, and Swiss-based services handling EU residents' data are also subject to the EU's rules. Wherever you are, the trend is the same.

What this means for you as a parent

• Protections are expanding to older teens, not just young children — the old "13 and you're on your own" assumption is fading.
• Chatbots are being held to real standards, including transparency and child-safety duties.
• You can expect more rights over your child's data, including deletion.
• "Built for compliance" is becoming a real differentiator. When choosing a tool, it's reasonable to ask how a company handles children's data, consent, and safety — and to prefer those that take it seriously rather than treating it as a checkbox.

The takeaway

The regulations all point the same way: governments have decided that AI used by children needs real guardrails, and that chatbots can't sit outside the rules that apply to everything else. For parents, the useful takeaway isn't the acronyms — it's that "is this service actually built to protect my child's data and safety?" is now a fair and important question to ask of any tool your teenager uses.