Article 6Delayed creation and use of accounts

1. Providers of online social networking services and of video-sharing platform services shall not allow a natural person below the age of 15 years to create an account with that service or to access that service by means of an account, created for, or attributed to, that person, where the service poses a risk to the privacy, safety or security of a minor below that age.

A service shall be considered to pose a risk to the privacy, safety or security of minors below 15 years of age where it meets any of the following conditions:

• (d)
  enables recipients who access the service through an account to transmit content in real-time to an indeterminate number of other recipients of the service, including through live streaming of audio-visual content;
• (e)
  enables recipients who access the service through an account to contact, communicate and otherwise interact with other recipients of the service not part of the recipient's pre-existing connections or subscriptions;
• (f)
  uses a recommender system which is based on profiling as defined in Article 4, point (4), of Regulation (EU) 2016/679;
• (g)
  uses a recommender system suggesting or prioritising to a recipient who accesses the service through an account contact suggestions or information that has not been provided by one of the recipient’s pre-existing connections or subscriptions;
• (h)
  deploys or presents functionalities, interface designs or characteristics which are intended, or can reasonably be foreseen, to enable uninterrupted content consumption, that incentivise interactions with the service or with content or other recipients of the service, or that transmit automated notifications designed to prompt the user to initiate or resume use of the service.

2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, providers of online social networking services and video-sharing platform services may allow guardians to set up accounts for minors above the age of 13 years and below the age of 15 years with limited features so as to allow them to access the service by means of such a limited account. Such accounts shall meet at least the following conditions

• (a)
  the tools for guardians provided for in Article 20 shall always be activated;
• (b)
  guardians are enabled to set a maximum limit on the amount of time in a day the service or system may be accessed through that account, which shall not exceed one hour per day;
• (c)
  guardians are enabled to pre-approve potential new contacts and to set a maximum limit on the number of other recipients or users in the account’s contacts.

3. When creating an account for a minor pursuant to paragraph 2 of this Article, the provider of online social networking services and of video-sharing platform services shall take measures to establish whether the person creating the account is the holder of parental responsibility over that minor in accordance with Article 26 and verify that the recipient of the service has reached the age of 13 years in accordance with Article 28(1).

4. Providers of services falling within scope of paragraph 1 of this Article shall by 6 months after the entry into application of this Regulation establish whether the holders of existing accounts used to access their service are below the age of 15 years. Where holders of existing accounts are established to be below 15 years, providers of services concerned shall disable the accounts of the recipients or users of the service that have been established to be below that age or in relation to whom the age cannot be established.

5. Where providers of services falling within scope of paragraph 1 process personal data pursuant to Article 6(1), point (a) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the provisions set out in this Article should apply in parallel to the age limits provided in Article 8 of that Regulation.

6. The Commission may adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 40, in order to amend this Regulation by modifying and complementing the conditions in paragraph 1 of this Article, to include new features and functionalities or changes to existing features or functionalities that pose a risk to minor’s privacy, safety, and security online equivalent to the risks posed by the conditions set out in paragraph 1 of this Article.