Commission Guidelines on the protection of minors under Article 28(4) DSA

Non-binding guidelines the European Commission adopted and published on 14 July 2025, later carried in the Official Journal, setting benchmark measures for compliance with Article 28(1) Digital Services Act (DSA): recommending age verification for high risk services such as pornography and gambling, age estimation by independently audited third parties for medium risk services, and rejecting self declaration as insufficient.

The guidelines also call for minors' accounts to default to private settings, with geolocation, autoplay, and push notifications disabled and recommender systems adjusted to limit exposure to harmful content. The Commission uses the guidelines, which apply to platforms accessible to minors other than micro and small enterprises, to assess Article 28 compliance and inform enforcement, though following them does not itself guarantee compliance.