European Committee of the Regions calls for stronger child protection online

The European Committee of the Regions has called for stronger protection of children and young people online, urging a ‘safety-by-design’ approach, mandatory child-rights impact assessments, and a greater role for local and regional authorities in media literacy.

The call comes in the form of an opinion on ‘The Protection of Youth and Minors in the Digital Sphere’, adopted unanimously at the committee’s plenary session. The committee argues that responsibility for making the digital environment safer should rest with platforms and regulators, rather than with minors themselves.

The committee warns that digitalisation can widen access to information and participation, but also increases risks such as cyberbullying, hate speech, disinformation, deepfakes, and generative AI chatbots. It says opaque recommendation systems and addictive design features can directly harm minors, and calls for practices that encourage compulsive use, including some mechanisms linked to video games, to be restricted or made more transparent.

The opinion rejects blanket bans on social networks, arguing that they could restrict young people’s rights to information, privacy, and participation. However, it says a minimum age of 14 for access to certain social media services could be considered, provided it is based on mandatory age verification and combined with enforceable age-appropriate design standards for platforms serving users up to 16.

The committee also calls for stricter enforcement of existing EU rules, including Articles 28 and 34 of the Digital Services Act, and asks for clarification of how the Audiovisual Media Services Directive applies to media content in relation to the DSA. It also supports privacy-respecting age verification systems, stricter rules for influencers, and the removal of dark patterns such as infinite autoplay, manipulative notifications, and reward loops.

Local and regional authorities are presented as key actors in strengthening media literacy, particularly because gaps in connectivity, digital skills, and access to support services can worsen inequalities between regions. The committee also calls for children to be better informed about the opportunities and risks of the digital sphere, and for teacher guidelines on disinformation to be reviewed and strengthened.

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