The Special Panel on Child Safety Online today presented its recommendations to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. In their report, the experts examine how children and young people grow up in the digital environment, highlighting its advantages and disadvantages, and propose a framework based on the developmental stages of young people. The German expert commission on ‘Protecting Children and Young People in the Digital World’ has already taken a similar approach, having submitted its report to the German government just under three weeks ago.

Kenya will host the 21th United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) from 14 to 18 December 2026. For the first time since the United Nations General Assembly made the mandate permanent, participants from stakeholder groups representing government, private sector, technical community, intergovernmental organisations and civil society will gather in Nairobi. Together, they will discuss current issues and challenges relating to the shaping of the digital environment under the overarching theme ‘Governing the Internet in the Age of Intelligence: Our Shared Responsibility.

After 9 months of intensive work, the expert commisison on "Protecting Children and Young People in the Digital World" today presented its recommendations to Federal Minister for Youth Karin Prien. On 4 September 2025, she had appointed eighteen experts from various professions and mandated them to develop a strategy for the protection of young people online, including specific recommendations for action for various stakeholders such as the federal government, the Länder (federal states) and civil society.

The train we are supposed to board next year with our ticket safely stored in the European Digital Identity Wallet is future bound. This is one of the take aways from the European Dialogue on Internet Governance – EuroDIG 2026. The conference was designed to take a look back and forward in Internet Governance based on the WSIS+20 review process and the 20th anniversary of the Top-Level-Domain .eu.

The next European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) will take place in Brussels on 26 and 27 May. Under the theme “European Voices for the Future of the Internet – Celebrating 20 Years of .eu and the Beginning of a New Internet Governance Era”, representatives from the fields of politics, industry, civil society, academia and technology will come together to discuss current developments and network. The hybrid event is hosted by the European Commission, at whose premises the conference will take place, and EURid. Registrations for in-person attendance are open until 15 May, whilst for virtual attendance remains open until the beginning of the event.

The age assurance industry has its Oscars. In a posh ceremony hosted by BBC presenter Charlie Stayt, the first-ever Age Assurance Industry Awards recognized organizations and individuals changing the face of the sector, and creating the path for its continued evolution.

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.

On the fifth anniversary of the adoption of General Comment No. 25 on children's rights in the digital environment, 53 organisations and signatories remind the States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to realise children's rights on the internet and in digital services.

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.

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.

Since 2015, the Council of Europe has been calling for the protection of children from sexual exploitation and sexual violence on November 18—both offline and online. For the tenth consecutive year, the aim of the day of action is to raise awareness of sexual violence against children, provide comprehensive information to the public, and promote effective prevention and protection measures. By ratifying the Lanzarote Convention, Germany has also made a legal commitment to take measures to combat sexual violence.