Towards a Protective Ecosystem for Children Online: Business Models, Incentives and a More Coherent EU Framework 

This webinar will present CERRE’s new report on the protection of children online, which takes an ecosystem perspective on the actors delivering content and services to young users. Rather than focusing on individual design features or service types, the research maps online risks and harms for children to the business models that underpin them, such as advertising-funded, freemium, subscription and transaction-based models, and examines how the incentives these models create interact with existing obligations under the DSA, the AVMSD, the consumer acquis and the GDPR. On that basis, the report identifies inconsistencies and gaps across the digital value chain and proposes policy options for a more coherent EU framework, at a moment of strong political momentum marked by the recent final report of the Commission’s Special Panel on Child Safety Online and the forthcoming Commission proposal on minimum-age and access restrictions for minors. 

To discuss these findings, CERRE invites you to join a public webinar on 7 October 2026 from 15:00–16:15 CET on “Towards a Protective Ecosystem for Children Online: Business Models, Incentives and a More Coherent EU Framework.