The Special Panel on Child Safety Online, announced by Ursula von der Leyen in her 2025 State of the Union address, presented its report “Child Safety Online: Protecting and Empowering Minors in a Digital World” on 13 July 2026. Chaired by Maria Melchior and Prof. Jörg M. Fegert, the Panel met three times in 2026 and was asked to develop recommendations to strengthen online protection for children and young people and on possible age limits for social media. Under the “Safe by Design” principle, platforms should activate child-friendly settings by default, restrict manipulative design features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay and personalised recommendations for minors, and improve protection against harmful content, cyberbullying and online grooming. If providers cannot demonstrate that their services are “Safe by Design,” they should have only limited access to children under 13 in the EU. Here, the report recommends the use of effective age-assurance systems that protect privacy. For users over the age of 13, member states should be able to consider more stringent precautionary age restrictions. The report notes that countries may also choose an age threshold higher than 13. Furthermore, the report also calls for greater transparency in major platforms’ algorithms, stronger media-literacy support for children, parents and teachers, and better complaint mechanisms. Although non-binding, the recommendations are likely to influence the Commission’s forthcoming legislative initiatives.

Report Calls for Comprehensive Protection of Children and Adolescents Online

The report notably takes a broad view of online youth protection through the concept of “Social Media+”, covering not only social media but also digital services such as app stores, AI chatbots and companions, video games and video platforms. This reflects the increasingly blurred boundaries between these services and the fact that risks to minors extend beyond social media. However, it remains unclear how the Commission will turn these recommendations into concrete measures. The report also recommends that young people aged 13 to 18 should only access Social Media+ that is “age-appropriate” and “safe by design”. In doing so, it goes beyond access rules and points towards binding requirements for the design of social media and other digital services.

When it comes to age verification, the report rightly calls for the highest data protection standards and refers to zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP). These allow a person to prove they are old enough without revealing their date of birth. However, a double-blind architecture is also necessary: the verification service does not know which service is being accessed, and the service does not know who the person is. The recommendation to shift the burden of proof to providers is also particularly welcome, as it would require them to show that their products are safe for minors rather than leaving regulators and civil society to prove harm.

Next steps at European level

“Now we need action at European level”, Ursula von der Leyen stressed in her statement on the report’s findings. She announced a proposal after the summer, followed in the fourth quarter of 2026 by the already announced Digital Fairness Act. This could include further measures to protect minors online. Von der Leyen also pointed to the Commission’s age verification app  as a key tool for giving children safer internet access. The crucial question will be how age verification works in practice. In this context, the recent AK study on age verification in the digital space shows that the available technical methods must be assessed carefully for effectiveness and for their impact on data protection and fundamental rights.

It is also important to note that the Digital Services Act already requires very large online platforms to assess systemic risks to minors and adopt appropriate mitigation measures. So far, however, platforms have largely carried out these risk assessments themselves, while enforcement of the relevant obligations has often faced significant delays. The planned Digital Fairness Act (DFA) could give real force to the ‘Safe by Default’ principle and the burden-of-proof approach. It specifically targets addictive design, ‘Dark Patterns’, influencer marketing and unfair personalisation, with minors identified as a key target group. The panel’s recommendations therefore raise the standard by which the DFA will be judged. Key elements of the future DFA were also discussed recently at a joint event organised by AK EUROPA and BEUC.

Further information

EU Commission: Special panel on child safety online
Special panel report: Child Safety Online: Protecting and Empowering Minors in a Digital World
A&W Blog: Altersprüfung im Netz: Was möglich ist und wo Vorsicht geboten ist (Age verification online: what’s possible and where caution is advised) German only
AK Wien: Studie Altersfeststellung im digitalen Raum (Age Verification In The Digital Sphere) German only
AK Vienna: ADDICT - Studie zu suchtfördernden Designs und Praktiken (ADDICT – Study on designs and practices that encourage addiction) German only
AK EUROPA: Digital Fairness Act: Addressing addictive design on TikTok, Instagram and similar platforms
BEUC: Towards the Digital Fairness Act