§7.2 User support measures

78. Putting in place features on online platforms accessible to minors to assist minors to navigate their services and seek support where needed are an effective means to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors. The Commission therefore considers that providers of online platforms accessible to minors should: (a) Have clear, easily identifiable and accessible support tools that allow minors to seek help when encountering suspicious, illegal or inappropriate content, accounts or behaviour that make them feel uncomfortable. This includes providing block and mute buttons. The support tools should be child-friendly, clearly visible, immediately accessible (see Section 6.4 on Online interface and other tools) and should connect minors directly with the most appropriate support services for their location and age, such as those that form part of the national Safer Internet Centres, INHOPE networks and national child helplines. (b) Limit the use of support tools based on AI, as they should not be used as the main mechanism to interact with children. (c) Introduce directly visible warning messages, links to relevant national support lines (90) and other authoritative sources when minors search for, upload, generate, share and receive content that is potentially illegal or harmful for the privacy, safety and security of minors (as explained in the Section 6.7 on Moderation). Providers of online platforms should also refer minors to relevant national support lines when a minor submits a report related to such content. The referral should be made immediately after the provider of the online platform becomes aware of the activity or the minor submits a report. (d) If the online platform includes features or functionalities related to user connection, posting content or user communication, it should provide minors with the option to anonymously block or mute any other user or account, including those that are not connected to them. The blocking systems should be easy to find and accessible. No information about the user or their account should be available to any accounts that the user has blocked. (e) If the online platform enables comments on content, it should provide minors with the option to restrict the types of users who can comment on their content and content about them and/or prevent other users from commenting on their content and content about them, both at the time of posting and thereafter, even if the possibility to comment is restricted to accounts previously accepted as contacts by the minor (as recommended in Section 6.3 on Account settings). (f) If the online platform offers group functions, it should ensure that minors join a group only after being notified of the invitation and upon accepting that they wish to be part of that group. Good practice NiceSpace is a social media platform for users above 13. When users sign up, they are presented with an interactive tutorial ‘SafeSpace 101’ which explains the platform’s privacy, safety and security features, including blocking and muting options, comment control and group invitations. NiceSpace also features a prominent ‘Help’ button, connecting the users directly with their local Safer Internet Centre helpline. When searching for potentially harmful content, NiceSpace warns users with contextual prompts and redirects them to safer resources. All information is adapted to the youngest user allowed on the platform.

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