§6.3.2 Availability of settings, features and functionalities

59. The Commission considers that providers of online platforms accessible to minors should: (a) Consider whether some settings, features or functionalities should be removed from minors’ accounts altogether and/or whether any of the default settings set out in the previous Section 6.3.1 should be made irreversible or unchangeable for all minors or for minors of certain ages, taking into account their age and evolving capacities, and remove and/or make irreversible such settings on the basis of that assessment. When making this assessment, providers of online platforms accessible to minors should assess the manner in which those settings and functionalities may impact the high level of privacy, safety and security of minors on their platform. (b) Ensure that irrespective of the account settings chosen by minors: (i) minors can never be easily found or contacted by accounts they have not previously accepted as contacts. (ii) minors’ personal contact details, including email or telephone number, are never disclosed to other users unless explicitly permitted by the minor. (iii) minors’ accounts are never included in contact suggestions to adults. Adult accounts or accounts likely to be fake minor accounts are not recommended to minors. (iv) accounts that the minor has not previously accepted as contacts can never see their profile information, biography, activities and history such as ‘likes’ and ‘views’, lists of friends and followers and accounts that the minor follows, and that such information always becomes unavailable if the account is blocked or otherwise un-accepted. (c) Ensure that minors are provided with the possibility to restrict the visibility of their profile photo and of individual pieces of content that they publish, as well as the possibility to restrict the visibility of their content generally. (d) Ensure that minors are provided with the possibility to accept or reject any tagging by other users, whether in content, comments or otherwise. (e) Implement measures to prevent minors from inadvertently accepting unwanted contacts by, for example, requiring users to include a message when they request to connect with a minor.

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