From 7 to 12 March, the multistakeholder community will meet in Mumbai, India, for the ICANN 85 Community Forum to discuss current issues and developments related to the security and advancement of the Internet. Among other things, the focus will be on the (continued) work on universal acceptance, the development and implementation of a human rights impact assessment (HRIA) within ICANN structures, and the use of the domain name system. Many bodies will also discuss further preparations for the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) program. An overview of the main topics of the event can be found here.

Political intention to introduce age restrictions on social media is intensifying across Europe. Several European Union member states are advancing national initiatives, reflecting growing concerns about the impact of social media on minors. France, Denmark, Greece and Spain are among the countries that have announced or introduced measures to restrict social media use by under-18s. - At the European supranational level, the debate is also gaining momentum. The European Union has set up a panel of child protection experts to advise on possible EU-wide age restrictions, with recommendations expected by the end of the summer.

On Monday Feb. 9th, 2026, ahead of Safer Internet Day the Lisbon Council invited a group of experts to discuss what scientific evidence and practice teach us about children and social media. In the light of the Australian experiment on banning under 16th from a certain selection of social media platforms governments around the globe are rushing to decide whether to follow the same path or find a different approach.

Young people with an interest in digital issues are sought for YOUthDIG, which will take place in Brussels from May 23 to 27. In preliminary webinars, participants will address practical issues of internet governance and provide input for EuroDIG.

On Wednesday, Dec. 17th, 2025 the United Nations General Assembly have agreed on the Outcome Document of the WSIS +20 Review and established a permanent mandate for the Internet Governance Forum.

The United Nation‘s General Assembly will convene to deliberate on the World Summit of Information Society Review and the prolongation of the mandate for the Internet Governance Forum. The report refers to the start of the consultations.

To mark the fourth anniversary of GC25, the report “The Impact of General Comment No. 25 in the UNCRC Review Process” by the Digital Futures for Children Centre in the Department of Media and Communication, in partnership with the 5Rights Foundation, was released. The report examines how General Comment No. 25 is incorporated into and implemented in current political and legal processes. Further details can be found in our article.

On Wednesday, MEPs adopted a non-legislative report by 483 votes in favour, 92 against and with 86 abstentions, expressing deep concern over the physical and mental health risks minors face online and calling for stronger protection against the manipulative strategies that can increase addiction and that are detrimental to children’s ability to concentrate and engage healthily with online content.

Although children and young people make up about one third of internet users worldwide, their perspectives are still rarely taken into account in technology-related policies, design processes, and decision-making structures. To counter this, the authors Sonia Livingstone and Kruakae Pothong argue that a tool such as the “Child Rights Impact Assessment Tool” can serve as a practical instrument for integrating children’s rights more comprehensively, early on, and systematically into political and administrative decision-making processes.

EU digital ministers meeting in Horsens, Denmark, under the leadership of Danish Digital Minister Caroline Stage, agreed on stronger protection for minors on the internet. In the presence of EU Vice President Henna Virkkunen, the majority of ministers spoke out in favor of protecting minors on the internet. Together, they adopted the Jutland Declaration for a safe digital environment for children and young people.

The article highlights the most important arguments and summarizes the key policy demands of the Eurochild position paper “Protecting children online without silencing them.”

An open letter to the German Chancellor addresses the task of protecting children's rights in the digital environment.