Katarina Barley

12 a. Recognises the role of helplines and hotlines in combatting cyberbullying and supporting victims; stresses the importance of adequate funding and support at national and EU levels;

12 b. Acknowledges the specific vulnerabilities of groups of children disproportionately affected by cyberbullying: girls, LGBTIQ+ children, children from vulnerable backgrounds, including...

12 c. Welcomes the upcoming Action Plan Against Cyberbullying and calls on the European Commission to adopt a multi-layered approach that recognises the continuum of offline bullying and...

12 d. Calls on Member States to ensure early and victim-centered support and initiatives and foster a culture of reporting and positive bystander behaviour online, by providing school training...

12 e. Urges online platforms to ensure a swift and proportionate response to cyberbullying related content and conduct, and transparently report on the prevalence, use, enforcement actions and...

C a. whereas recent research indicates that engagement in digital self-harm, including self-cyberbullying, significantly raises the likelihood of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts;...

G. whereas cyberbullying affects a significant portion of young people; whereas according to the EU Kids online 2020 survey, carried out among children aged 9 to 16, about 1 in 10...

G a. whereas 51% of children surveyed in the Europe Kids Want survey indicated that bullying was one of the biggest challenges to their mental health, and digital technologies play a key role...

G b. whereas, according to the 2021 WeProtect survey, over half of young people had experienced some form of sexual harm online in their childhood; whereas girls are particularly vulnerable to...

Recalls that tackling online sexual abuse and exploitation is essential to addressing the impact of social media on young people; stresses the importance of reinforcing the legal framework in...

Notes the ongoing implementation of the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet) under the revised Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 establishing...

Stresses that emerging third-party age assurance services, which can attest a user’s age, have the potential to protect privacy by limiting the amount of personal data processed; notes that...

Recalls that the country-of-origin principle often renders unilateral attempts in digital regulation ineffective; urges the Member States to align possible age-based restrictions to ensure...

18. Highlights the key role of both formal and non-formal education in equipping young people with the digital skills and the critical thinking needed to navigate social media safely and...

I b. whereas the right to privacy, including the confidentiality of communications, is a fundamental right under EU law, and any erosion of this right would undermine trust in digital services...

I c. whereas end-to-end encryption plays a crucial role in ensuring children’s safety online by protecting them from exploitation and their personal communications from interception and being...

Stresses that the protection of personal data relating to minors, as well as data that can be inferred from their online behaviour, requires the highest level of safeguards, in line with the...

7. Welcomes the July 2025 Commission guidelines pursuant to Article 28 DSA as a key step in strengthening child protection online, particularly on VSPs and social media, offering practical tools to...

Regrets that, since the GDPR’s entry into force in 2018, many providers have inadequately implemented its requirements – such as the requirement for parental consent, which indirectly protects...

C. whereas although social media enables young users to exercise their freedom of expression and of information, it also exposes them to a wide range of harmful...

Calls for the establishment of mandatory ‘safe’ default settings for recommender systems, which would require platforms to avoid optimisation for engagement or virality unless a user actively...

– Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications...

Insists on the importance of safety and data protection by design as social media environments should be developed to be safe for young people from the outset by embedding protective...

Underlines that the digital sphere, including social media platforms, is an important tool for young people to inform and express themselves; emphasises that online communities can provide a...

6 b. Stresses that generative AI tools, such as nudifiers and other tools able to reproduce synthetic child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or AI-manipulated content depicting minors in...

Recalls that the GDPR forms the cornerstone of data protection in the EU, laying down strong safeguards and obligations for the processing of personal data, including important principles such...

Notes that the DSA pursues objectives distinct from, but complementary to, the GDPR, by aiming to establish a safe, predictable and trustworthy online environment that promotes innovation...

Recalls that Parliament’s mandate on the regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat CSAM proposed a risk-based approach and clear criteria for the use of age assessment systems;...

Considers that age assurance systems must be part of a broader set of measures, such as responsible content curation, a generally fair and non-exploitative design of digital environments,...

I a. whereas social media platforms’ pervasive tracking and profiling practices raise serious privacy and data protection concerns, as they expose young people, in particular, to heightened...