European Commission's special panel report on child safety online: Key takeaways

Experts presented a report to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, proposing a harmonised EU-wide access restriction to social media and other digital
services for minors under 13.

The report presented on 13 July 2026 highlights the critical challenges children face online and provides recommendations on better protecting and empower them, as well as on the age-appropriate use of social media and other digital services. 

Drafted by the panel's co-chairs Professor Jörg Fegert and Dr. Maria Melchior, it is intended to inform future actions to be proposed by the European Commission and EU Member States to reinforce child safety online.

Key takeaways from the report: 

• A broad definition of social media and other digital services labelled "social media+" : all services that may be available to minors and contain age-inappropriate and/or risky features and/or content. This includes AI chatbots, video games and video-sharing platforms.
   
• Social media+ world offers many opportunities but also present a number of risks for minors and age restrictions may be a necessary precautionary step until social media+ spaces are shown to be safe.
   
• Social media and other digital services providers retain primary responsibility for the safety of the services they develop and provide: the burden of proof needs to be on providers, not regulators, parents or children.

• Until they demonstrate their services are safe by design, social media and other digital services providers should have restricted access to children under the age of 13 in the EU. Harmonised rules would ensure a single compliance framework for providers, facilitate enforcement and supervision by regulators at both the national and EU levels and allow an equal level of protection for all minors across the EU.
   
• Children’s rights must underpin online child safety measures. An ecosystem of actors is needed to protect and empower children and adolescents in the social media+ environment (regulators, providers, parents, caregivers, teachers and educators)

The Commission will present a proposal in September at the annual State of the European Union address.

Read the full report and summary on the European Commission website.

Source: European Commission