Cabinet to Better Protect Childrens Rights Online

Secretary of State Eddie van Marum: “In daily life, we often know exactly where our children play and with whom. But online, a child quickly disappears from view. This makes it unclear what children encounter online and what risks they face. With the Online Childrens Rights Strategy, we, together with other ministries and social organizations, are taking concrete steps to better map and address those risks. We protect children from harmful algorithms, violent images, and excessive screen time, without taking away the fun and educational aspects of the digital world.”

Various laws ensure that children are protected online. The cabinet continually assesses whether current laws sufficiently protect children or if additional action is needed. Currently, this is not the case, hence extra action is required. The Netherlands advocates for the enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA) at the European level and for measures against addictive and polarizing design techniques. The cabinet also aims to regulate the gaming industry by banning purchases within a game with an unknown outcome (loot boxes), pay-to-win mechanisms, and the use of digital coins. Additionally, it is exploring how age verification - for example, for online gambling - can be implemented safely, inclusively, privacy-friendly, and practically.

Parents struggle with their childrens smartphone use. Therefore, Secretary of State van Marum will launch the public campaign Stay in View on September 8. This campaign helps parents of children aged 7 to 12 engage in discussions about their smartphone use and make good agreements among themselves.

To make children digitally resilient, digital skills must have a fixed place in schools. Children should learn how technology works, how to protect themselves online, and how to recognize fake news. Schools, governments, libraries, and businesses work together on this. This way, we help children grow up safely and consciously in a digitalizing world.

Three studies - so-called Childrens Rights Impact Assessments (KIAs) - show that social media such as TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat have both good and bad aspects for children. The platforms did not cooperate with the research, which is why only public sources were used, such as previous studies and public data.

The KIAs show that children - despite measures from the platforms themselves - are exposed to violent and harmful images, advertising, and online abuse. Scientific research indicates that this can have a negative impact on children. Since the companies did not share their own data, it is not precisely known how significant the risks are per platform. An important conclusion of the KIAs is that companies must become more transparent about the risks of their digital service for children. Secretary of State van Marum will advocate for this in Europe.

The Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations plans to conduct more KIAs in the near future, also for gaming platforms and streaming services. Additionally, the ministry continues to engage with the companies behind TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat and investigates, together with other European countries, how platforms can be required to be more transparent about their operations and risks.