Germany’s coalition government is discussing possible restrictions on children’s access to social media, including a proposed ban for users under 14 and modified platform versions for older teenagers.
The European Commission is examining whether to introduce common age restrictions for social media across the EU, as countries such as France, Spain, and Denmark move forward with their own measures to protect children online.
ICANN has announced the selection of 12 university students from across Europe to participate in its NextGen programme, which introduces young academics to global internet governance discussions during the ICANN86 meeting in June 2026.
The European Data Protection Supervisor has published Opinion 7/2026 on the Commission’s proposal to extend the application of Regulation (EU) 2021/1232, which allows certain measures to detect child sexual abuse online.
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology has announced a new initiative aimed at developing industry-led standards and research to support secure and interoperable AI agents.
Policymakers, researchers, companies and civil society representatives met in New Delhi on 17 February 2026 to discuss approaches to inclusive AI governance, with a focus on Global South participation.
Open Rights Group has criticised recent UK government proposals on online safety, arguing that expanded age restrictions and delegated powers could increase biometric data collection while limiting parliamentary oversight.
ICANN has submitted its contribution to the European Commission’s consultation on an EU action plan against online fraud, highlighting the limited but important role of the Domain Name System in addressing online abuse.
The UK-based Open Rights Group has expressed concern about the growing use of biometric age verification tools by major online platforms, highlighting transparency, privacy, and user choice issues.
The European Parliament has turned off built-in AI tools on tablets issued to lawmakers after internal assessments found that some features could send data to external cloud services.
Civil Society Alliances for Digital Empowerment (CADE) is a project co-funded by the European Union.
