Safeguarding Children and Young Adults Online from illegal and harmful content
This project consists of two key components:
- Collecting legal definitions of particularly harmful online content against children, including self-harm, suicide and eating disorders promotion.
- Interviewing stakeholders responsible for child protection to examine how they address and mitigate online harms targeting younger users.
This research activity is carried out in the framework of the Digital Services Act (Regulation EU 2022/2065, DSA), supporting its implementation to better safeguard children in the digital environment.
The project is foreseen in the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights ‘Single Programming Document 2026-2028’ (Activity F).
Project start date: June 2025
What?
The online world provides extensive opportunities for learning, personal development, social connection, access to news, information, and self-expression. However, it also poses significant risks – particularly for vulnerable groups, such as children and young adults, whose evolving capacities and high engagement with social media makes them more susceptible to harm.
The Digital Services Act (DSA), in effect since February 2024, sets out strong protections for children and young adults online—but it does not define what content is illegal.
This project explores how EU Member States regulate harmful material, with a focus on online content promoting self-harm, suicide, eating disorders and defamatory content affecting age and gender, in their national laws and measures.
The project will also examine key challenges in protecting young people from illegal and harmful content. It will look at stakeholder practices in this regard, including approaches used by national regulators, law enforcement, online platforms, and child protection organisations in 11 EU Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovakia).
Why?
Protecting children online is a top priority for the European Union. Through multiple initiatives, the EU works to shield children and young adults from online risks. The Digital Services Act (DSA) seeks to strengthen these efforts by safeguarding fundamental rights online – with special protection for children and young adults. It recognises their special vulnerability and provides for specific measures that online platforms should take. The current project sets out to explore how provisions - to safeguard children’s fundamental rights with respect to online safety - are working in practice.
The project builds upon existing research conducted by FRA, supporting the effective implementation of EU legislation and policies – particularly the DSA – in the field of child protection and digital rights.
How?
The methodology combines desk- based research and qualitative fieldwork through interviews.
Desk Research: Legal Mapping of Illegal Online Content
The desk research will:
- Systematically analyse national legislation across all EU Member States to identify legal definitions of illegal online content, focusing specifically on: content promoting self-harm, suicide, eating disorders and defamatory content targeting children (including gender and age).
- Produce a comparative mapping of these legal definitions to assess variations in regulatory approaches.
Fieldwork: Stakeholder Interviews in 11 EU Member States
FRANET, the Agency’s multidisciplinary research network, will conduct interviews with the following stakeholders:
- Public authorities (including Digital Services Coordinators)
- Law enforcement agencies
- Civil society organisations, and
- Online platforms (with legal representation in the respective Member State).
Ten interviews per country will take place in Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, and Slovakia.