On 13 July, the final commissioned report “Child Safety Online: Protecting and Empowering Minors in a Digital World” was published. I was pleased to contribute to the work of the Special Panel. Convened by President Ursula von der Leyen, it brought together researchers, practitioners, youth and parent representatives, and specialists from fields including health, psychology, education, child rights, technology and digital policy. Across three meetings between March and June 2026, the panel examined the evidence on children’s experiences online, the adequacy of existing protections, and the practical choices now facing Europe. The published recommendations are the responsibility of the Co-Chairs, Prof. Dr. Jörg M. Fegert and Dr. Maria Melchior, informed by the panel discussions and wider consultations. They provide a substantial basis for the next phase of European policy.
1. Moving beyond a simple “ban or no ban” debate
Public discussion about children and social media is often reduced to a single question: should access be prohibited below a particular age? The report takes a broader and more useful approach. It treats child safety online as a developmental, rights-based and systemic challenge. A three-year-old, a twelve-year-old and a seventeen-year-old do not have the same needs, vulnerabilities or capacity for independent decision-making. Protection therefore needs to change as children grow.
The report proposes:
- avoiding or minimising screen and social-media exposure for very young children;
- supervised, time-limited and age-appropriate use during childhood;
- gradually increasing autonomy during adolescence, but only in digital environments that are safe and appropriate by default.
It also recommends a harmonised EU-wide access restriction for children under 13 for social media and other digital services that may expose them to harm, with limited access under parental authorisation and supervision or for educational purposes. Member States could consider additional precautionary restrictions for older adolescents.
Age limits, however, are not presented as a complete solution. They would need to be proportionate, enforceable, respectful of children’s rights and supported by privacy-preserving age-assurance systems. Their impact would also need to be evaluated continuously, including the risk that children circumvent restrictions or move to less visible services.
2. The primary responsibility should not lie with parents.
One of the report’s most important conclusions is that responsibility cannot be transferred primarily to children, parents or schools. Digital services are designed environments. Features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, persistent notifications, personalised recommendation systems and other engagement-maximising mechanisms shape how children use them. The report therefore calls for stronger and more consistent safety-by-design requirements, age-appropriate default settings and clearer accountability across social media, gaming, video-sharing platforms, AI companions and other relevant services. The underlying principle is direct: providers should have to demonstrate that their products and services are safe for minors. The burden should not fall on families or regulators to prove harm after it has occurred.
That shift matters. Parental guidance, education and supervision are essential, but they cannot compensate for services whose commercial incentives depend on maximising attention or whose design exposes children to harmful content, contact, conduct or commercial practices.
3. Protection and empowerment must go together
Children’s rights apply online as they do offline. Safety policy should not isolate children from the benefits of digital participation, learning, creativity, connection and access to support. The report consequently combines protective measures with recommendations to:
- involve children and adolescents meaningfully in the design of policy, education and safety systems;
- strengthen accessible, age-appropriate complaint and reporting mechanisms;
- embed digital and media literacy throughout education;
- improve guidance and tools for parents, caregivers and teachers;
- support helplines, Safer Internet Centres and peer-counselling services;
- create more opportunities and infrastructure for offline activity;
- develop health-system capacity to identify and treat digital-use-related addictions and mental-health problems.
This balance is important. The objective is not simply to keep children away from technology. It is to create conditions in which they can use digital services safely, progressively and with genuine agency.
4. Better policy requires better evidence
The report is also clear about the limitations of the current evidence base. Associations between digital use, design features, well-being and harm can differ substantially by age, context and individual vulnerability. Policy therefore needs better longitudinal research, controlled studies, and independent access to platform data.The recommendation to strengthen researcher access and invest in long-term European studies is not secondary. Without reliable data, it is difficult to identify emerging risks, distinguish correlation from causation, assess the effects of specific product features, or determine whether interventions are working. Regulation in this area must be capable of adapting as technologies, business models and patterns of use change.
Now what?
The European Commission has said that it will consider the Co-Chairs’ recommendations and put forward proposals to strengthen the protection of children online. This report is not the end of the debate. Nor does it remove the difficult questions about implementation, proportionality, privacy, enforcement and unintended consequences. It does, however, establish a serious framework: age-appropriate protection, children’s rights and participation, provider accountability, education, support for families, and continuous evaluation.
Europe has an opportunity to move from fragmented responses towards a coherent approach in which children can benefit from digital technology without their safety, health and development being treated as acceptable costs of the attention economy. Let’s hope we lean-in to such a coherent approach. Our children are depending on us.
Read more here.