Advocacy on Online Safety for Minors: Protecting Childhood in the Digital Age

Grounding European digital safety legislation in the real-life needs of families, shifting the burden from parents to platforms, and championing Safety by Design and Default.

As the European Union advances landmark legislative action – most notably the EU KIDS Act – the European Parents’ Association acts as a vital institutional bridge between macro-level European policymaking and the micro-level realities of families across Europe.

Our work on digital safety is the result of decades of dedicated advocacy and consistent presence in Europe. Today, EPA is a trusted and active partner at the EU level. We make sure that European policies are based on the real needs of families – not on the commercial interests of tech platforms.

Our Stance on the proposed KIDS Act

For too many years, profit-driven entities have shaped the digital landscape largely unchecked, deploying increasingly predatory tools and features into an almost entirely unregulated market without prior (ex-ante) safety testing. Commercial interests have consistently stayed steps ahead, leaving digital evolution out of control.

Historically, platforms attempted to shift responsibility by offering so-called “parental control tools” – complex mechanisms that often require advanced technical expertise per platform just to navigate their constantly changing settings.

EPA strongly welcomes the fundamental paradigm shift introduced by the European Commission with the KIDS Act. For the first time, EU policy formally recognizes that accountability and the burden of proof must lie with the providers. Parents should no longer be abandoned in a predatory market and forced to act as perpetual “digital police” for their children.

Yet we ask for more. We fundamentally call for a broader regulatory shift: online safety must be treated as a core matter of consumer protection. Not only minors, but all digital consumers should be protected from predatory and toxic design mechanics. Because consumer protection is an area where the European Union possesses a clear, robust mandate to legislate, it provides the ideal legal foundation to take action. Addictive dark patterns, infinite scrolling, and manipulative algorithms harm every citizen.

Our Policy Pillars

Across our European network, our ground-level experience demonstrates that parents and children alike face continuous challenges from deceptive app architectures and commercial traps. As a constructive partner in shaping European law, EPA champions essential structural solutions:

  • Safe by Design and Default (Universal Protection): True safety cannot depend on whether a parent has the time, digital literacy, or language proficiency to configure complex control apps. Platforms must be legally bound to provide inherently safe environments by default, ensuring that no vulnerable child falls through the net.
  • Consumer Protection as an EU Mandate: Because consumer protection is a core competency where Europe has a clear mandate to legislate, we approach digital safety through a robust consumer rights lens. Addictive design mechanics, dark patterns, and predatory algorithms harm families. Protecting digital citizens is as fundamental as product safety in the physical world.
  • Parents and Teens as Allies (Shared Vulnerability): Parents and teenagers are not opponents; both are vulnerable digital consumers caught in commercial survival mode. Both fundamentally want the same thing: an inherently safe online world that they can approach without fear. We proudly collaborate with youth representatives – such as OBESSU and BIK+ Ambassadors – to bridge the generation gap.
  • Digital Well-Being & AI Ethics: Technology must serve human well-being rather than compromise it. We champion offline-first early years pedagogy, strict data privacy protections, and human-centric design that preserves cognitive development and human connection.
  • The Adult Role Model Standard: Adults cannot teach digital well-being without themselves being a role model. Beyond children’s screen time, we advocate for behavioral baselines: refraining from constant mobile device absorption in the immediate proximity of young children, applying equally at home and in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings.

EPA goes beyond traditional advocacy. Through our active participation in major EU-funded research and our upcoming flagship initiatives like the EPA Parent Academy, we provide structured, community-based capacity building to turn European policy targets into lived realities in every European home.

Institutional Timeline & EPA’s Strategic Engagement

  • Foundational Roots (Decades of Advocacy): For years, EPA has consistently raised the alarm on commercialized childhood, screen saturation, and the erosion of youth mental health across European forums.
  • The EU Special Panel on Online Safety (2026): EPA played a direct, official role in shaping the scientific baseline by participating in the 2nd and 3rd meetings of the European Commission’s Special Panel on Online Safety, bringing frontline family evidence directly to expert deliberations.
  • High-Level Dialogue & DG EAC Collaboration: EPA has engaged in continuous, direct dialogue at the highest institutional levels with DG EAC, submitting comprehensive written policy recommendations at the Commission’s request to shape the foundational architecture of the EU KIDS Act.
  • Ante-Drafting European Parliament Engagement (Autumn 2026): As the European Parliament prepares its formal counter-proposals and committee reports, EPA stands ready to provide concrete support.

Looking Ahead

  • The Berlin General Assembly & International Conference (November 13–14, 2026): Hosting Special Panel Co-Chair Dr. Jörg Fegert as a keynote speaker in Berlin to debate the implementation of the KIDS Act with parent association representatives from all over Europe.
  • Post-November Advocacy & Implementation: As the legislative process accelerates in the European Parliament and Council, EPA will remain a proactive, constructive partner throughout the legislative process.