The Special Panel on Child Safety Online has recommended an EU-wide minimum age of 13 for social media and other digital services, backed by privacy-preserving age assurance, and stronger “safety by design” requirements.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented the report on children’s safety online this morning. 

The All Ireland Science Media Centre asked experts to comment.

Dr Dean McDonnell, Lecturer of Psychology, South East Technological University, comments: 

“Children’s digital media use is ecological, shaped by families, schools, peers, communities and the opportunities available offline. Any reduction in children’s access to digital spaces should always be matched by investment in safe public spaces, play, sport, arts, libraries, and youth services. Removing one developmental environment without strengthening others can have significant consequences.

“The most important thing this report gets right is that children are not a single group, and online safety is not a problem parents can solve alone. A toddler, a primary-school child, and a 17-year-old have very different developmental capacities, vulnerabilities and rights. The move from protection and supervision towards growing autonomy is sensible, although the broad 3–12 and 13–18 bands will need much finer guidance in practice.

“Its strongest recommendation is to shift responsibility towards the companies designing these environments. Safety by default, age-appropriate settings, and limits on attention-capturing features such as infinite scroll and recommender systems should not be optional. A common minimum age may provide a useful baseline, but age restrictions alone will not make digital spaces safe. Their value will depend on privacy-preserving age assurance, consistent enforcement and independent evaluation.”

Declaration of interest:  I have no financial or commercial conflicts of interest relevant to this report. I am a developmental psychologist, member of the Psychological Society of Ireland and lecturer at South East Technological University. The views expressed are my own.

Maribeth Rauh, Researcher, AI Accountability Lab, Trinity College Dublin, comments: 

“The report recommends age-based access restrictions as the central safety mechanism. While they argue that this is a short-term fix during hoped-for culture change in the long term, how exactly they will get platforms to alter their design remains unclear. In the absence of a clear framework for what platforms must do, their defence of bans falls short.

“Their call for enforcement of existing regulation and shifting the burden of proof to companies is commendable. We must move in this direction, but the report remains thin on implementation details.

“It is encouraging to see the report take a broad stance on what platforms this pertains to, including emergent, high-risk use cases popular among minors such as AI companions. The framing of “social media+” will be essential for keeping up with this rapidly evolving space.”

Declaration of interest: I have no conflict of interest; I am an academic researching child safety on AI companion platforms.

Dr Ann Marcus Quinn, Associate Professor in Technical Communication, School of English Irish & Communication, University of Limerick, comments: 

“The European Commission’s emphasis on age-appropriate, ‘safe by default’ digital services is a welcome step towards shifting responsibility from children and families to the platforms that design these environments. Features such as recommender systems, infinite scroll and persuasive design should not be treated as inevitable parts of children’s online experience.

“At the same time, regulation alone is unlikely to be sufficient. The evidence suggests there are no simple, one-size-fits-all solutions to supporting young people’s digital wellbeing. Policies focused solely on restricting access risk overlook the diverse ways adolescents use digital technologies for learning, creativity, social connection and support. Such a focus also potentially widens existing inequalities. Research also highlights that much of the evidence linking smartphone and social media use with poor wellbeing remains correlational, with an important need to distinguish between different types of digital engagement. A balanced approach should therefore combine platform accountability with high-quality digital literacy education, ongoing parental engagement and the co-creation of safer online environments that enable young people to develop the skills and autonomy they need to thrive in an increasingly digital society.”

Declaration of interest: “nothing to declare”

Hitesh Tewari, Assistant Professor (Computer Science) Trinity College Dublin, comments: 

“Aligning closely with our work at Trinity College Dublin, the recommendation on “Accountability of Digital Services and Consumer Rights” by the European Commission rightly highlights the need to “Enforce safety by design and content-based regulation.”

“While Big Tech platforms (such as Meta, Google, and ByteDance) pledge to protect users from abuse and harmful content via “Policy Guarantees,” voluntary enforcement has failed.

“The solution lies in cryptographic Safety by Design. By implementing privacy-preserving identity verification, platforms can require users to authenticate via trusted third parties (like national identity registries) without ever seeing the user’s actual data. To ensure accountability, this system would include a legal escrow mechanism: if a user violates critical platform safety laws, their anonymity could be lifted exclusively by the order of a judicial panel.”

Declaration of interest: “nothing to declare”