Protecting children online: response to the draft guidance

Executive summary

DIGITALEUROPE welcomes the European Commission’s draft guidelines on the protection of minors online under Art. 28 of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The draft provides an important opportunity to reinforce a harmonised and proportionate approach to child safety across Europe, clarifying the expectations for platforms whilst avoiding a fragmented regulatory landscape.

We strongly support the draft’s emphasis on risk-based, flexible measures, and its recognition that protection does not mean exclusion. Children must be empowered to access digital opportunities in age-appropriate, safe environments. However, to ensure the guidelines are clear, effective and proportionate across the wide variety of online platforms to which they are meant to apply, several elements would benefit from clarification and adjustment.

In particular, we highlight the need for:

• Clearer guidance on the criteria for assessing ‘accessibility to minors’, including a working definition that reflects actual use and service design;
• Greater legal certainty on how the guidelines interact with existing EU legislation;
• A flexible approach to age assurance that maintains privacy and inclusivity;
• Flexibility for platforms to tailor measures based on service-specific risks and capabilities;
• Recognition that existing risk assessments by very large online platforms (VLOPs) should be considered sufficient to meet the guidelines’ expectations, provided they adequately address risks to minors, avoiding unnecessary duplication.

Adopting these improvements will help ensure that platforms can effectively implement safeguards without undermining innovation, inclusiveness, or user trust