EU Better Internet for Kids (BIK+) Strategy

BIK+ is implemented through and complemented by binding EU instruments: the Digital Services Act (Art. 28 online protection of minors; Art. 25 dark patterns; Art. 26 advertising), the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Art. 6a minor protection; Art. 28b VSP measures incl age verification and minor-personal-data prohibition; Art. 33a media literacy), the General Data Protection Regulation (Art. 8 child consent), the proposed Regulation on combating child sexual abuse (CSAM Regulation), and the eIDAS 2.0 Regulation for EU-wide digital proof of age. The Strategy creates no new binding obligations of its own; it directs and aligns these underlying legal regimes.

• Documented mapping of the entity's BIK+ alignment to its DSA / AVMSD / GDPR / eIDAS 2.0 compliance

• Treating BIK+ as a standalone binding regime
• Compliance with one BIK+ pillar without engaging the underlying binding instruments

Implementation of BIK+ at national level runs through the Safer Internet Centres co-funded by the Commission under the Digital Europe Programme. Each Member State has an SIC delivering awareness, helpline, hotline and youth-participation activities. The Strategy invites Member States to ensure adequate national co-funding and integration with national child-protection systems.

• Engagement records with the national SIC where the entity operates a child-facing service in the EU

BIK+ is monitored through the BIK+ indicators and a periodic evaluation involving the Commission, Member States, SICs, industry, civil society and children themselves. The Strategy commits the Commission to a mid-term review and to publishing aggregated reporting on the BIK+ portal.

• Contribution to BIK+ indicator data collection where the entity operates relevant child-facing services
• Internal reporting against BIK+ themes (where relevant)

Section 6 commits the EU to international cooperation on child online protection through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and General Comment 25 on childrens rights in the digital environment, the Council of Europe, UNICEF, the OECD, and child-rights NGOs. The Strategy positions BIK+ as the EU contribution to a global child-online-protection architecture.

• Records of the entity's alignment with UN CRC General Comment 25 (where the entity operates globally)
• International-cooperation records where applicable (cross-border CSAM, cross-border helpline referrals)

Pillar 1 commits the Commission to facilitating an EU code of conduct on age-appropriate design building on the new rules in the Digital Services Act and in line with the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and the General Data Protection Regulation. The code aims to ensure the privacy, safety and security of children when using digital products and services and is developed through a multi-stakeholder process involving industry, civil society and child rights organisations.

• Industry signatory record (or non-signatory rationale) for the EU code of conduct on age-appropriate design
• Internal age-appropriate-design controls aligned to the codes safeguards

• Service design that ignores age-appropriate-design principles
• Reliance on AVMSD/DSA/GDPR compliance without the additional safeguards in the BIK+ code of conduct

Pillar 1 invites Member States to support effective age-verification methods in line with the eID proposal from 2023 and to support the development of an EU-wide recognised digital proof of age based on date of birth within the framework of the eID proposal from 2024. The Strategy emphasises that age assurance should be privacy-preserving and not enable profiling of minors.

• Age-assurance implementation aligned with the eID framework (where applicable to the service)
• Data-minimisation and no-profiling design for the age-assurance pathway

• Age-verification implementations that collect more data than necessary
• Age-assurance data flows that feed profiling or targeted advertising to minors (prohibited under AVMSD-Art.6a(2) and Art.28b(3))

Pillar 1 commits the Commission to legislation to prevent and combat child sexual abuse online (subsequently the proposed CSAM Regulation, COM(2022) 209) and to continued action through the EU Internet Forum, the INHOPE network of hotlines, and the EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse. The Strategy supports detection-and-reporting obligations on services and Member State response capacity.

• Notice-and-takedown procedure for CSAM aligned to applicable law (DSA + national criminal law + the proposed CSAM Regulation)
• Hotline interoperability (INHOPE) for CSAM reports
• Records of CSAM detection / reporting / removal where required

• Services that publish or distribute user-uploaded content without a CSAM detection-and-removal pathway
• Detection systems that lack independent oversight or that bypass user-rights safeguards

Pillar 1 reinforces the use of the EU-wide harmonised 116 111 child helpline number and Member State child-helpline services to combat cyberbullying, harassment and online harms affecting children. The Strategy invites Member States to ensure the 116 111 service is operational, well-resourced and visible to children.

• Helpline-referral procedure where the entity's service can direct children to the 116 111 helpline or national equivalent
• Records of cyberbullying-incident escalation to law-enforcement or child-helpline where appropriate

• Children-facing services with no in-product referral to a child helpline or to the relevant Safer Internet Centre

Pillar 1 confirms continued co-funding of the Safer Internet Centres (SICs) network across Member States. Each SIC operates an awareness centre, a helpline, a hotline (for reporting illegal content) and a youth-panel. The Strategy positions the SICs as a key delivery vehicle for BIK+ at national level.

• Records of the entity's engagement with the relevant national SIC (referrals / collaboration / data sharing)

• No engagement with the national SIC despite operating a service used by children

Pillar 1 highlights the role of industry-led efforts in ensuring age-appropriate online gaming, recommender-system safety and the mitigation of addictive design practices (dark patterns, dopamine-loop loops, manipulative engagement features). The Strategy aligns these expectations with the DSA prohibition on dark patterns and with the AVMSD VSP measures.

• Recommender-system design review for minor-protection (DSA Art.28 prominence rules, opt-out from profiling-based recommenders)
• Records of dark-pattern / addictive-design audits where the service is used by minors

• Recommender systems that profile minors
• Dark-pattern engagement mechanics in services used by children

Pillar 1 supports the development of a code of conduct on the protection of children's personal data, complementary to the age-appropriate-design code and reinforcing GDPR Article 8 obligations for child consent and the prohibition (mirrored by AVMSD-Art.6a(2) and 28b(3)) on processing minors personal data for direct marketing, profiling or behaviourally targeted advertising.

• GDPR Article 8 age-of-consent compliance for the entity's service
• Records demonstrating that minors personal data is not processed for direct marketing / profiling / behavioural targeting

• Targeted advertising or profiling using minors personal data
• No clear childrens privacy notice in accessible language

Pillar 2 emphasises media and information literacy (MIL) as a core competence for children to navigate the online world safely and critically. The Strategy commits to supporting MIL initiatives delivered through schools, civil society and the SICs, with particular focus on disinformation, online manipulation and critical engagement with AI-generated content.

• Media-literacy tools or resources the entity makes available to minor users
• Partnerships with the national SIC or with civil-society MIL providers

• No media-literacy resources for minors
• Service-provided information lacking accessible explanations for child audiences

Pillar 2 aligns BIK+ with the Digital Decade targets, including 80% of adults with basic digital skills by 2030. The Strategy emphasises that children should acquire digital competences progressively, with attention to inclusion (children from disadvantaged backgrounds, children with disabilities, children outside formal education).

• Digital-skills support / curriculum alignment where the entity delivers educational services for children
• Inclusion measures for disadvantaged or disabled-children audiences

Pillar 2 supports digital citizenship education, including consent, online identity, digital footprint, rights of the child online, and responsible behaviour. The Strategy invites Member States to embed digital citizenship in formal education and to support extracurricular initiatives.

• Digital-citizenship education materials or programmes supported by the entity

Pillar 2 confirms continued operation of the Better Internet for Kids portal (betterinternetforkids.eu), a one-stop EU resource hub for educators, parents, children, industry and policymakers, hosting resources from the SICs, the BIK Youth Panel and EU-funded research.

• Links to and engagement with the BIK+ portal where the entity operates child-facing services in the EU

Pillar 2 promotes annual Safer Internet Day campaigns and continuous awareness-raising on online safety, privacy, harassment, disinformation and well-being. The Strategy invites industry to participate in Safer Internet Day and to align awareness messaging with the BIK+ themes.

• Records of Safer Internet Day participation or aligned awareness activity

Pillar 3 commits the Commission to embedding child participation in policymaking on issues affecting them. The Strategy invites Member States to involve children in national policy development on digital issues, supported by the BIK Youth Panel, the SICs youth panels, and the EU Children Participation Platform.

• Records of the entity's consultation of children where the service is materially child-facing
• Documented use of the BIK Youth Panel or equivalent child-consultation mechanisms

• Policy changes affecting children-facing services with no documented child consultation

Pillar 3 encourages industry to consult young users when designing and updating products and services likely to be used by children, in particular on safety, privacy and age-appropriate design features.

• Youth-consultation records (panel composition, topics, decisions influenced)
• Pre-launch youth review of new child-facing features

• Product changes affecting children-facing features launched without any youth consultation

Pillar 3 supports peer-to-peer activities (older children mentoring younger children) on online safety, privacy and well-being, recognising the value of child-to-child communication on these topics.

• Peer-to-peer programmes supported through the SICs or aligned partnerships

Pillar 3 acknowledges that children are no longer passive consumers of technology and may publish content. The Strategy emphasises that platforms used by children-creators should have safeguards covering monetisation, parental oversight, exposure to commercial communications, and protection from grooming/abuse.

• Child-creator policies for the entity's platform (monetisation gating, parental-consent flows, exposure-to-commercial-communications limits)
• Grooming-prevention measures aligned with the SIC hotlines

• Child-creator monetisation features without parental consent flows
• No exposure-to-commercial-communications limits for child creators