Heightened Focus in the EU for the Protection of Minors Online
The protection of minors online continues to be a focus for EU regulators. Following the publication last year by the European Parliament of its guidelines on online age verification methods for children, the European Commission has recently announced it will be holding a dedicated stakeholder workshop in September 2024 to discuss guidelines for age verification and protecting minors. Whilst the issue has been flagged as a priority by the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) and we are seeing an increase in guidelines and (in some cases) laws addressing the issue at a national Member State level, this is also a focus of the new EU Digital Services Act (“DSA”).
The DSA, which forms part of the EU’s new package of digital data and cyber laws, aims to build a safer online space for users and to establish a level playing field for businesses. In particular, it requires providers of online platforms accessible to minors to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors online, for example, by designing online interfaces with high levels of privacy, safety and security for minors by default. In addition, platforms must ensure that minors cannot be targeted by advertisements via profiling.
DSA compliance is a particular focus of the EU Commission, including with respect to age-assurance and verification methods and the rules on advertising transparency. The EU Commission has also expressed concerns on algorithms, and the potential for algorithms to contribute to certain addictive digital behaviour by minors. The European Commission has confirmed that specific DSA guidelines on the protection of minors are being developed for online platforms. The European Board for Digital Services, which is comprised by EU Member States’ Digital Services Coordinators and chaired by the European Commission, has already started preparatory works for the DSA guidelines, which are expected to be published in the second quarter of 2025.
The chair of the EDPB has commented on the importance for collaboration between data protection authorities, competition authorities and consumer protection authorities in this regard. We expect children’s online safety issues to continue to loom large, including with the potential for cross-regulatory guidance from competent authorities in the coming months and year.
This post is as of the posting date stated above. Sidley Austin LLP assumes no duty to update this post or post about any subsequent developments having a bearing on this post.
