The European Commission has released draft guidelines aimed at strengthening the online protection of minors under the Digital Services Act (DSA) and is now seeking public feedback. The guidelines are designed to help online platforms—excluding micro and small enterprises—implement practical measures to ensure a high standard of privacy, safety, and security for children.

Public consultation is open until June 10, 2025, with the final publication of the guidelines expected later this summer.

The draft guidelines follow the risk-based framework established by the DSA, allowing platforms to tailor their child protection measures to the risks posed by their specific services. This model aims to strike a balance between safeguarding minors and upholding their digital rights, including participation, access to information, and freedom of expression.

Among the suggested measures:

• Age assurance tools to prevent minors from accessing harmful content such as pornography.
• Default privacy settings for children’s accounts to minimize the risk of unwanted contact from strangers.
• Recommender system adjustments that emphasize user signals (e.g., likes or dislikes) to prevent children from being exposed to repetitive or harmful content.
• Enhanced user control, allowing minors to block or mute others and preventing them from being added to groups without consent, which could mitigate risks of cyberbullying.

The guidelines are the result of comprehensive stakeholder engagement, including consultations with children through the Better Internet for Kids+ initiative, civil society groups, academics, and online platforms. The European Board for Digital Services and its working group on the protection of minors also played a key role.

Alongside the guidelines, the Commission is advancing an EU-wide age verification app, intended as a transitional tool ahead of the launch of the EU Digital Identity Wallet, expected by the end of 2026. The app, developed using the same privacy-preserving technology as the wallet, allows service providers to verify whether users are 18 or older without collecting personal data. A beta version and technical specifications are already available on GitHub, with a full open-source release expected by summer 2025.

In parallel, the Commission is preparing a proposal for a Digital Fairness Act, which may address further digital challenges facing minors not covered by the current DSA framework.

The Commission is encouraging all stakeholders—including children, parents, educators, platform operators, national authorities, and digital rights advocates—to contribute to the public consultation before the June deadline. Feedback will help shape the final version of the guidelines, which aim to set a new standard for child safety across the European digital space.