Apple Executive Chairman Tim Cook has praised the European Union's push for a common child-safety framework, giving Apple a rare point of agreement with regulators it has repeatedly fought over other technology rules.
Cook made the comments during a visit to Strasbourg, where he met European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and lawmakers working on children's online safety.
He welcomed the European Parliament's effort to create a "harmonized, Europe-wide framework to keep kids safe." Cook said Apple was encouraged by the discussion surrounding the proposed EU KIDS Act.
The comments don't amount to an endorsement of every provision in the proposed law. They do show that Apple supports the EU's broader effort to establish a common approach to protecting children online across its member states.
The EU KIDS Act puts new limits on children's accounts
The European Commission proposed the EU KIDS Act on September 17, with rules covering social media, video-sharing platforms, online games, AI companions, and chatbots. Kids younger than 13 wouldn't be allowed to use social media, while those ages 13 and 14 could use parent-managed "mini accounts" with limited features and a one-hour daily limit.
Users could open their own accounts beginning at age 15. The legislation would also impose broader safety requirements on online services rather than relying only on age restrictions.
App stores would also have to age-rate apps and block children from inappropriate purchases or downloads. They would also need to support privacy-preserving age verification.
Apple's existing child-safety tools already address many of the same goals. Child Accounts give parents control over younger users, while Screen Time can restrict apps and websites and limit how long children use them.
The company expanded those systems again with iOS 27. Updated parental controls made Child Accounts easier to create and expanded the controls available to parents across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Apple has also developed age-assurance systems that don't require an app developer to receive a user's exact birthday. Its Declared Age Range API can provide an age category instead, and Apple expanded those tools in 2026 as governments adopted new age-verification requirements.
None of that means complying with the KIDS Act would be automatic. The proposal would establish its own requirements for age assurance, app stores, parental controls, and services used by children, but Apple wouldn't be starting from scratch.
It's a very different fight from the DMA
Cook's positive response makes more sense when the KIDS Act is compared with European regulation Apple has spent years fighting. Apple has opposed parts of the Digital Markets Act because the law requires changes to areas of its ecosystem that the company has traditionally kept under tight control.
The company argues that DMA requirements involving alternative app marketplaces, third-party access, and interoperability can weaken privacy and security. Its dispute has also affected product launches, with Apple blaming DMA for delaying Siri AI and other Apple Intelligence features in the European Union.
Apple supports the EU's broader effort to establish a common approach to protecting children online across its member states.The KIDS Act pushes Apple in a different direction. Rather than requiring the company to open more of its platform, the proposal calls for stronger age controls, parental oversight, safer defaults, and privacy-conscious age verification, all areas where Apple has already invested heavily.
Cook's comments don't establish why he supports the EU's approach, and Apple hasn't said its existing technology explains his position. The overlap between the proposal and Apple's existing tools does show why the child-safety rules pose a different regulatory challenge than the DMA.
Apple isn't embracing European technology regulation across the board. In this case, regulators are asking for safeguards that more closely resemble features Apple has already chosen to build into its ecosystem.
Cook's visit also fits directly into his new role at Apple. He became executive chairman on September 1 when John Ternus succeeded him as CEO, and Apple said at the time that Cook would continue engaging with policymakers around the world.
Child safety has already become one part of that work. Cook met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during the United Nations General Assembly in September, where the two also discussed protecting children online.
The Strasbourg meeting shows that conversation is continuing as the EU moves its proposal through the legislative process. It also gives Cook an issue where Apple's interests and Brussels' regulatory goals are considerably closer than they are in the company's ongoing fight over competition rules.