Committee of Experts for the Creation of Safe Digital Environments for Children and Youth

The Committee of Experts for the Creation of Safe Digital Environments for Children and Youth is an initiative of the Ministry of Youth and Childhood in Spain that was created through the Resolution of February 1, publishing the Agreement of the Council of Ministers of January 30, 2024. This Committee was integrated into the Ministry of Youth and Childhood and functioned as a working group.

The 50 members of the Committee of Experts were appointed with the goal of providing a multidisciplinary diagnosis on how to develop safe digital environments (based on scientific evidence and practical experience), through the Resolution of February 25, 2024, appointing the Committee of Experts for creating a safe digital environment for youth and children. The Committee is composed of a group of experts who provide a wide range of perspectives, viewpoints, and responsibilities. Each group member possesses experience in their field or professional career.

The objective of the Committee of Experts has been, within a maximum period of six months from its establishment, to submit to the Government, through the Ministry of Youth and Childhood, a report aimed at creating a safe digital environment, contributing to the better protection of the comprehensive development of childhood, adolescence, and youth.

This report had to:

Analyze best practices in the digital environment.
Identify the main risks and dangers they may face in the digital environment.
Formulate recommendations and actions to be implemented, distinguishing between short, medium, and long-term, serving as a roadmap with the aim of ensuring that various public administrations guarantee, each within their scope of competence, the comprehensive development of childhood and youth.

After 8 sessions of the Committee, the Report of the Committee of Experts for the Development of a Safe Digital Environment for Youth and Children has been published. This detailed report includes 107 measures grouped into short, medium, and long-term implementation blocks. These measures seek to protect the rights of children and adolescents in the digital realm, promoting prevention, early detection, and protection against potential breaches. Among its proposals are tools such as parental control, age verification, and combating "sharenting" (sharing minors' private information on social networks).

Report of the Committee of Experts for the Development of a Safe Digital Environment for Youth and Children