§6.2 Registration

54. Registration or authentication may influence whether and how minors are able to access and use a given service in a safe, age-appropriate and rights-preserving way. The Commission is of the view that, when it has been determined that age assurance is necessary in order to provide a high level of privacy, safety and security, as well as to provide an age-appropriate experience, registration or authentication can be a first point of use to carry out such process in a proportionate way. 55. Where registration is not required, and cognizant of the fact that any unregistered user could be a minor below the minimum age required by the online platform to access the service and/or age-inappropriate content on the service, the provider of the relevant online platform accessible to minors should configure the settings of any unregistered users in a way which guarantees the highest levels of privacy, safety and security, considering in particular the recommendations set out in Sections 6.3.1 and 6.3.2 and treating the best interests of the child as a primary consideration, including having regard to contact risks associated with an adult potentially posing as a child. 56. Where registration is required or offered as a possibility to access an online platform accessible to minors, the Commission considers that the provider of that platform should: (a) Explain to users the benefits and risks of registration and, where relevant, why registration is necessary (see Section 8.4 on Transparency). (b) Ensure that the registration process is easy for all minors to access and navigate, according to their evolving capacities, including those with disabilities or additional accessibility needs, and in a language that they can understand. (c) Ensure that the registration process includes measures to help users to understand whether they are old enough to use the service. In line with point d. below, these measures should only be presented to users after an age assurance method, including self-declaration, has been applied. (d) Avoid encouraging or enticing users who are below the minimum age required by the online platform accessible to minors to create accounts or to access the service and take measures to reduce the risk of this happening (55). (e) Ensure that it is easy for minors to log out and to have their account deleted at their request. (f) Use the registration process as one opportunity to carry out age assurance if necessary, in view of recommendations in Sections 5 and 6.1 (56), as well as highlight the safety features of the platform or service, the rules of conduct along with their respective consequences for violating terms, any identified risks to a minor’s privacy, safety or security and resources available to support users. (g) Ensure that the registration process does not encourage or entice children to make available or share on their profile more information than necessary for the functioning of the service, and that consent from the child’s parent or guardian is sought where necessary under Union or Member State law.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07