Article 8General obligation on safety by design

1. Providers of online social networking services, of video-sharing platform services, of online games, of AI companions, of general conversational chatbots, and of software application stores, regardless of whether those services or systems are accessible with an account, and including services and systems accessible through the accounts specified in Article 5(3) and Article 6(3), shall ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security of minors. Providers of such services or systems shall design those services and systems in accordance with the requirements laid down in this Chapter by default and shall only derogate from those requirements after they have established that the recipient of the service or the user of the system is an adult, by making use of age assurance in accordance with Chapter V.

2. Compliance with the obligations set out in this Chapter shall be without prejudice to the obligation of providers of online social networking services and of video-sharing platform services to delay the creation of accounts pursuant to Article 6 and shall be without prejudice to the obligation of providers of video-sharing platform services concerning guardian-controlled access for minors, where applicable, pursuant to Article 7.

3. Where providers of online social networking services or of video-sharing platform services deploy AI companions or general conversational chatbots as a functionality in the provision of those services, only the obligations set out in Sections III, V and VI shall apply to such AI systems.