Swiss platform law will ban profiling ads to minors, while age checks stay undecided

Switzerland's Federal Council said on October 14 that its planned law for very large online platforms and search engines will now bar providers from showing minors advertising based on profiling. The original draft had no youth protection rules at all, and age verification, the most contested idea raised in the consultation, is not among the measures announced so far.

A draft with no youth protection rules

The Federal Act on Communication Platforms and Search Engines, known in German as KomPG, went out for consultation on October 29, 2025. It targets only very large services: the draft defined them as platforms used each month by an average of 10% of Switzerland's permanent resident population, which the government put at about 900,000 users.

According to the consultation report, the preliminary draft contained no specific rules on protecting children and young people. Instead, the invitation letter asked respondents two questions about it. Of 214 submissions, 136 backed the draft fully or mostly, 53 opposed it fully or mostly, 13 were neutral and 12 declined to take a position.

No party and no canton argued against adding youth protection, the report says. That is how a ban on profiling ads for minors moved from a consultation question into the government's plan.

What respondents actually asked for

When asked which youth measures to prioritise, 56 respondents named a ban on profiling-based advertising to minors, the most of any option. A reporting system for content unsuitable for children came next with 44, followed by age checks or age verification with 43 and parental control systems with 35.

Age checks were also the most disputed measure. Thirteen respondents rejected what they called unreasonable checks, and some asked that any system be designed to collect as little data as possible. A blanket social media ban for children was barely requested, according to the report, and several submissions rejected it outright.

Four platform providers responded. Google Switzerland and Meta Platforms Ireland opposed the draft, Microsoft Switzerland leaned against it, and TikTok Switzerland gave no overall rating.

What the government decided

Besides the ad ban, very large platforms and search engines will have to assess whether their services create or amplify risks for minors and take steps to reduce them. The release adds that AI search engines count as search engines under the law, and that the scope will not be widened to smaller services.

The reporting procedure, which lets users flag content they believe is unlawful, is to be extended to all such content. In the consultation, 53 respondents had asked for exactly that.

Further youth protection measures will be decided once the government has a report on two parliamentary postulates on the subject. The Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications must deliver a draft bill to Parliament by June 2027, so none of this is law yet.