Special panel on child safety online

In the European Union, minors are protected and empowered online by one of the world’s most comprehensive toolboxes for child safety, which includes:

• the Digital Services Act (DSA) and its guidelines on the protection of minors
• the Audiovisual Media Services Directive
• the AI Act
• the Safer Internet Centres under the Better Internet for Kids Strategy (BIK+), which advise and assist children, parents, teachers and carers on digital questions and help the fight against online child sexual abuse
• an age verification solution being piloted in several Member States
• a Communication on a comprehensive approach to mental health
• the recently adopted Action Plan against Cyberbullying
• ongoing work on rules to combat child sexual abuse online
• the General Data Protection Regulation
• the Consumer protection law in particular the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive
• ongoing work on a Digital Fairness Act
• the EU Strategy on the rights of the Child
• the EU Children’s Participation Platform
• the Commission Recommendation on integrated child protection

However, already being a frontrunner does not mean that the EU cannot do more. In her 2025 State of the Union address, President von der Leyen acknowledged the benefits digital technologies, including social media, offer to minors – alongside with risks, such as cyberbullying, adult content, self-harm promotion, and addictive algorithms.

To better protect and empower minors online, the President announced that she would commission a panel of specialists to advise on the best approach for Europe on child safety online and potential age restrictions for social media. 

The panel brings together youth representatives as well as specialists from various fields, including health, neuroscience, psychology, computer science, child rights, and digital literacy, from across the EU. The Special Panel does not have permanent membership and specialists invited may vary from meeting to meeting. As the President seeks the views of a broad audience, subsequent meetings might involve different specialists depending on the content discussed.

The panel is co-chaired by:

Maria Melchior
Research Director at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research  

Maria Melchior has a doctorate in science from Harvard University. She is an epidemiologist and research director at Inserm/Sorbonne University. Her work focuses on social inequalities in mental health and addictive behaviours, with a particular interest in developmental trajectories from childhood to adulthood and the intergenerational transmission of 
psychological difficulties. In 2020-2025 she participated in an expert group on Social media use in adolescents at the French Agency for Food, Environment and Occupational Health & Safety. In 2025-2026 she holds the Chair in Public Health at the College de France. Her work focuses on social inequalities in mental health and addictive behaviours, with a particular interest in developmental trajectories from childhood to adulthood and the intergenerational transmission of psychological difficulties.

Jörg M. Fegert 
Director of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy at Ulm University Medical Centre   

Prof. Dr. Jörg M. Fegert is a child and adolescent psychiatrist. He is the Director of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy at Ulm University Medical Centre. He is the President of ESCAP (The 
European Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry). He is former President and still associated to the German Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy. He is former chairman and current member of the Academic Advisory Board on Family Affairs of the German Federal Government. His work focuses on the neglect, abuse, sexual abuse and other early childhood trauma and provides for an interdisciplinary angle. 

The Special Panel is tasked with exploring key issues for the online safety of children, such as a harmonised EU age limit for social media across the EU, tailored protections based on age and risk, and educational measures to promote responsible social media use. The perspectives of young people, children, parents and educators, as expressed in President von der Leyen's Youth Advisory Board and the Safer Internet Forum 2025, will be a key part of the discussions.

By the summer of 2026, the co-chairs will report to the President on findings and recommendations informed by the Special Panel meetings, with a view to better protect and empower children online and to explore the need for potential harmonised age restrictions to access social media and other online services.

At its first meeting on 5 March 2026, the Special Panel assessed current evidence on the risks and benefits from children’s use of social media and other online activities. It also discussed existing approaches to online safety from the EU as well as in third countries.

Participants included:

• Kimmo Alho, Emeritus of psychology at University of Helsinki, specialised in cognitive neuroscience, brain mechanisms of attention and function in digital spaces  
• Leanda Barrington-Leach, Executive Director, 5Rights Foundation
• Gabriele Battimelli, BIK+ ambassador Italy  
• Elena Bozzola, paediatrician and Secretary and National Councillor of the Italian Society of Paediatrics (online participation)
• Matthias Brand, Head of Department of Psychology, Duisburg University  
• Jutta Croll, Chairwoman of the Board of Stiftung Digitale Chancen
• Sigge Eriksson, National Council of Swedish Children and Youth Organisations, Sweden  
• Jeff Hancock, Founding Director, Stanford Social Media Lab (online participation)
• Pavel Kordik, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information Technology CTU in Prague (online participation)
• Marta Lamarosa Gonçalves, Better Internet for Kids+ ambassador Portugal  
• Sonia Livingstone, OBE, Professor of Social Psychology, Director of the Digital Future for Children Centre, London School of Economics
• Elvira Mentzelioti, Hellenic National Youth Council, Greece  
• Servane Mouton, Medical doctor, neurologist and neuropsychologist  
• James O’Higgins Norman, Professor of Education and society, Director of anti-bullying centre, UNESCO Chair on Bullying and Cyberbullying  
• Maja Olszewska, BIK+ ambassador Poland  
• Brian O’Neil, Emeritus Professor at Technological University Dublin  
• Leo Pekkala, Digital literacy expert, Deputy Director of KAVI  
• Soledad Pera, Associate Professor, Web Information Systems group of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science TU Delft  
• Hanne-Mari Schiøtz Thorud, physiologist and Professor at the National Centre for Optics, Vision and Eye Care at the University of South-Eastern Norway  
• Lore Sleeckx, Flemish Youth Council  
• Piotr Toczyski, Researcher at SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities  
• Antonia Torrens, President, COFACE – Families Europe  
• Rareș Voicu, Senior policy and advocacy manager, European Youth Forum
• Alexandra Weilenmann, Professor of Interaction Design, Head of Human-Computer Interaction Unit at the Department of Applied Information Technology at University of Gothenburg 

The second meeting, held on 16 April 2026, looked into existing measures to protect minors in the EU and around the world, and how these can be strengthened, including through potential new policy approaches.

Participants included:

• Mehdi Arfaoui, Sociologist, Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL) & École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) (FR)
• Leanda Barrington-Leach, Executive Director, 5Rights Foundation (EU)
• Tobiáš Bruno Galia, President’s Youth Advisory Board, Czech Council of Children and Youth (CZ)  
• Urs Buscke, Senior Legal Officer, European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) (EU)
• Alex Cooney, CEO & Co-founder, CyberSafeKids (IE)  
• María del Mar España Martí, Director Plataforma Control Z, Former Director of the Spanish Data Protection Agency (DPA) (ES)
• Marina Fernández, President, Adolescencia lliure de movils (ES)
• Louise Flynn, Assistant Professor in Teacher Education, Trinity College Dublin – School of Education (IE)
• Catalina Goanta, Associate Professor in Private Law and Technology, Utrecht University (NL)
• Rasmus Kjedahl, Director, Børns Vilkår (DK)
• Petra Kogelnig, Secretary-General, European Parents’ Association (EPA)
• Marta Lamarosa Gonçalves, Better Internet for Kids (BIK)+ Youth Ambassador (PT)
• Giovanna Mascheroni, Professor, Department of Communication, Catholic University Milan (IT)
• Helen Mason, Executive Director, Child Helpline International (EU)
• Servane Mouton, Medical Doctor, Neurologist and Neuropsychologist (FR)
• María Soledad Pera, Associate Professor, Web Information Systems group of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science TU Delft (NL)
• Tanja Petelin, Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Université de Poitiers (FR)  
• Jessica Piotrowski, Professor, Amsterdam School of Communication, University of Amsterdam (NL)
• Declan Qualter, Practice Placement Supervisor and PhD candidate, School of Education, University College Dublin (IE)
• Judith Simon, Professor for Ethics in Information Technologies, University of Hamburg (DE)
• Petr Slovak, Associate Professor in Human Computer Interaction, King's college London (UK)  
• Elisabeth Staksrud, Professor, Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo (NO) 
• Sophie Stalla-Bourdillon, Research Leader, Law, Science, Technology & Society Research Group, VUB (BE)
• Argyris Stringaris, Professor, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University College London (EL/UK)
• Lisa Thorell, Professor, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet (SE)
• Martina Tóthová, President’s Youth Advisory Board; Youth Council of Slovakia (SK)
• Mieke Visser-Schuurman, Director of Child Rights & Capacity Building, Eurochild (EU)
• Niels Zagema, President’s Youth Advisory Board; Nationale Jeugdraad (NL)