Commission seeks feedback on the guidelines on protection of minors online under the Digital Services Act

Commission seeks feedback on the guidelines on protection of minors online under the Digital Services Act

19 May 2025

The European Commission is seeking feedback on the guidelines on the protection of minors online under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The deadline for the public feedback is 10 June 2025.

The guidelines aim to support platforms accessible by minors in ensuring a high level of privacy, safety, and security for children, as required by DSA. The guidelines outline a non-exhaustive list of measures that all platforms, with the exception of micro and small enterprises, can implement to protect minors, using a default approach that is guided by privacy by design.

The guidelines adopt the same risk-based approach that underpins the DSA, recognising that different platforms pose varying levels of risks to minors. This ensures that platforms can tailor their measures to their specific services, avoiding undue restrictions on children’s rights to participation, information, and freedom of expression.

For example, platforms should:

  • Implement age assurance measures that reduce the risks of children being exposed to pornography or other age-inappropriate content.
  • Set children’s accounts as private by default, thus reducing the risk of unsolicited contact by strangers.
  • Adjust their recommender systems and prioritise explicit signals by users on whether they like or not the content they see, reducing the risk of children ending up in rabbit holes of harmful content.
  • Enable children to block and mute any user and ensure they cannot be added to groups without their explicit agreement, which may contribute to reducing the risk of cyberbullying.

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