European Commission publishes guidelines for protecting children online under DSA

The European Commission has published guidelines on the protection of minors under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The guidelines set out a "non-exhaustive list of proportionate and appropriate measures to protect children from online risks such as grooming, harmful content, problematic and addictive behaviours, as well as cyberbullying and harmful commercial practices."

The guidelines apply to all online platforms accessible to children, except for those operated by smaller businesses. Key recommendations include:

• Setting minors' accounts to private by default 
• Modifying the platforms' recommender systems
• Empowering children to be able to block and mute any user]
• Prohibiting accounts from downloading or taking screenshots of content posted by minors
• Disabling by default features that contribute to excessive use
• Ensuring that children's lack of commercial literacy is not exploited
• Introducing measures to improve moderation and reporting tools

The guidelines also recommend the use of effective age assurance measures, providing that they are accurate, reliable, robust, non-intrusive, and non-discriminatory.

In addition, the Commission published a joint press release on the guidelines and an age verification app prototype, aimed at creating a safer online space for children.

The Commission also published remarks by Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, on the announcements.

Additional legal analysis by Hunon Andrews' Privacy & Information Security Law Blog.