EU Rolls Out Action Plan Against Cyberbullying
The comprehensive EU-wide action plan targets the mental health crisis facing young people online through enhanced reporting infrastructure, unified cross-border responses, and prevention campaigns centered on digital literacy, the regulatory body announced.
Central to the strategy is a dedicated app that will enable harassment victims to flag abuse directly to national helplines, document evidence securely, and access customized assistance. The EU Commission will create a standardized framework that member states can localize, translating the platform and integrating it with domestic support networks.
"We want to boost healthy and responsible digital practices from an early age to help prevent cyberbullying," Henna Virkkunen, executive vice-president for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, declared during a press briefing. She cautioned that countless young Europeans remain "too often left feeling sad and left out" due to digital harassment.
The blueprint demands stronger coordination across the 27-nation bloc, pushing governments to establish comprehensive national cyberbullying frameworks and adopt uniform definitions to enable better data tracking and cross-country analysis.
The initiative leverages existing EU regulations—including the Digital Services Act (DSA), Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), and Artificial Intelligence Act—to tighten protections. Planned measures include revising DSA minor protection standards, establishing "trusted flagger" protocols to remove illegal content like cyberbullying, and imposing stricter transparency requirements on AI-generated material exploited for harassment.
Prevention forms a critical component, emphasizing early-age cultivation of responsible digital citizenship.
EU Commission data reveals approximately one in six children between 11 and 15 across the bloc have experienced cyberbullying, while a recent Eurobarometer poll found over 90% of Europeans demand immediate government intervention to safeguard minors online.
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