ANNEX

1. The OECD (1) and researchers (2) have classified the risks (3) that minors can encounter online, in order for providers of online platforms accessible to minors, academia and policy makers to better understand and analyse them. This classification of risks is known as the 5Cs typology of online risks to children. It helps in identifying risks and includes 5 categories of risks: content, conduct, contact, consumer risks, cross-cutting risks. These risks may manifest when appropriate and proportionate measures are not in place to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors on the service, causing potential infringement of a number of children’s rights. 2. 5C typology of online risks to children (4) Risks for children in the digital environment Risk categories | Content | Conduct | Contact | Consumer Cross-cutting risks | Additional privacy, safety and security risks Advanced technology risks Risks on health and wellbeing Misuse risks Risk manifestation | Hateful content | Hateful behaviour | Hateful encounters | Marketing risks Harmful content | Harmful behaviour | Harmful encounters | Commercial profiling risks Illegal content | Illegal behaviour | Illegal encounters | Financial risks Disinformation | User-generated problematic behaviour | Other problematic encounters | Security risks 3. Content risks: Minors can be unexpectedly and unintentionally exposed to content that potentially harms them: a. hateful content; b. harmful content c; illegal content; d. disinformation. These types of content are widely considered to have serious negative consequences to minors’ mental health and physical wellbeing, for example content promoting self-harm, suicide, eating disorders or extreme violence. 4. Conduct risks: Refer to behaviours minors may actively adopt online, and which can pose risks to both themselves and others such as a. hateful behaviour (e.g., minors posting/sending hateful content/messages); b. harmful behaviour (e.g., minors posting/sending violent or pornographic content); c. illegal behaviour (e.g., minors posting/sending child sexual abuse material or terroristic content); and d. user-generated problematic behaviour (e.g., participation in dangerous challenges; sexting). 5. Contact risks: Refer to situations in which minors are victims of the interactions, as opposed to the actor: a. hateful encounters; b. harmful encounters (e.g. the encounter takes place with the intention to harm the minor); c. illegal encounters (e.g. can be prosecuted under criminal law); and d. other problematic encounters. Examples of contact risks include, but are not limited to, online grooming, online sexual coercion and extortion, sexual abuse via webcam, cyberbullying and trafficking in human beings for the purposes of sexual exploitation. These risks also extend to online fraud practices such as phishing, marketplace fraud, and identity theft. 6. Consumer risks: Minors can also face risks as consumers in the digital economy: a. marketing risks (e.g. loot boxes, advergames.); b. commercial profiling risks (e.g. product placement or receiving advertisements intended for adults such as dating services); c. financial risks (e.g. fraud or spending large amounts of money on without the knowledge or consent of their guardians); d. security risks and e. risks related to the purchase and consumption of drugs, medicines, alcohol, and other illegal or dangerous products. Consumer risks also include risks related to contracts, for example the sale of users’ data or unfair terms and conditions. 7. Cross cutting risks: These are risks that cut across all risk categories and are considered highly problematic as they may significantly affect minors’ lives in multiple ways. They are: Advanced technology risks involve minors encountering new dangers as technology develops, such as AI chatbots that might provide harmful information or be used for grooming by exploiting vulnerabilities, or the use of biometric technologies that can lead to abuse, identity fraud and exclusion. Health and wellbeing risks include potential harm to minors' mental, emotional, or physical well-being. For example, increased obesity/anorexia and mental health issues linked to the use or excessive use of online platforms, which may in some cases result in negative impacts for minors’ physical and mental health and wellbeing, such as addiction, depression, anxiety disorders, deregulated sleep patterns and social isolation. Additional privacy and data protection risks stem from access to information about minors and the danger of geolocation features that predators could exploit to locate and approach minors. 8. Other cross cutting risks (5) can also include: Additional safety and security risks relate to minors’ safety, particularly physical safety, as well as all cybersecurity issues. Misuse risks relate to risks or harms to minors stemming from the misuse of the online platform, or its features.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.