Joint Statement: Making Online Safety a Reality for Children

9 September 2026 – Brussels, Belgium

Following the publication of the European Commission’s expert panel report on child safety online, Mental Health Europe has joined more than 50 organisations and experts in calling on the EU to turn its recommendations into meaningful action. The report takes an important step forward by recognising the risks digital services can pose to children’s wellbeing and placing greater responsibility on providers to ensure their services are safe and age-appropriate.

The joint statement calls for EU-wide standards for safe and age-appropriate digital products, stronger oversight and enforcement, and measures that address harmful design features at their source. Crucially, responsibility for online safety should not fall primarily on children and parents, but on the companies designing and providing these services.

Mental Health Europe signed the statement because protecting young people’s mental health requires us to address the digital environments shaping their lives. We support a European approach that moves beyond age restrictions alone and ensures digital products protect and empower children by design and by default.