Better Internet for Kids

Here, we take an in-depth look at the latest monitoring information for Lithuania.

BIK policies

Policy design asks whether evidence and research support BIK-related policies and whether systems are in place for monitoring and evaluating those policies.

Policy frameworks

Policy frameworks describe the overarching approach for a better internet, and establish the underlying goals, principles and guidelines that shape individual policies within this area.

In Lithuania:

• This topic is an important and emerging policy priority, with children’s online protection, digital empowerment, and digital participation partially covered in national/regional laws, regulations and policies.
• There are separate, dedicated policies which address the topic of children and the digital environment (protection, empowerment, and participation).
• The BIK+ strategy informs national policies but is not the main influence.
• Children’s rights in the digital environment are implied rather than explicitly recognised in policies regarding children and the digital environment. 

Key national policy frameworks are: 

• Law on Fundamentals of Protection of the Rights of the Child (consolidated version 2024)
• Law on the Protection of Minors Against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information (consolidated version 2024)
• Education Law of the Republic of Lithuania (consolidated version 2025)
• The Lithuanian Child Rights Protection and Adoption Agency is responsible for implementing law

Read the full Policy monitor country profile for detailed information on key national policy frameworks in Lithuania.

Read the full 2025 edition of the Policy monitor report.

Policy design

Policy design asks whether evidence and research support BIK-related policies and whether systems are in place for monitoring and evaluating those policies.

• Surveys of children’s digital activities are undertaken, but only irregularly (e.g., the EU Kids Online survey data from 2020 is the only available source on a national level).
• Surveys of children’s experiences of risks, harms and digital well-being are undertaken on an ad-hoc and irregular basis.
• Information systems to support policy development is irregular and ad hoc.
• Regarding research funding, there are occasional special initiatives to gather evidence about children and the digital environment.
• Monitoring and evaluation is ad hoc, infrequent and not systematic.

Recent national research studies include:

• EU Kids Online research (2018-2020) was implemented in Lithuania by a team of researchers from Vilnius University's Institute of Psychology as part of the Lithuanian Science Council-supported project ‘Lithuanian children and adolescents' use of the Internet: trends of threats and opportunities in the context of EU countries’.
• The Digital Ethics Centre (Skaitmeninės etikos centras) carries out occasional research such as a study on problematic usage of internet. 

Read the full Policy monitor country profile for detailed information on recent national research studies in Lithuania.

Read the full 2025 edition of the Policy monitor report.

Policy governance

Policy governance examines how policies are coordinated at the governmental level, whether other implementation bodies are involved in their delivery, and whether structured mechanisms are available to guide their implementation.

• Policy development sits across different ministries with leadership distributed according to the area of specialisation.
• There is no coordination mechanism in place. Policies, guidelines and programmes relating to children and the digital environment tend to be implemented independently of one another.
• Government policy has yet to be developed into an implementable action plan at this point.

• The Office of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics and the Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania (RRT) are responsible for the implementation and supervision of the Law on the Protection of Minors Against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information.
• The Ministry of Education, Science and Sports and the Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania (RRT) are responsible for the implementation and supervision of the Law on Education.
• The Government of the Republic of Lithuania, municipalities and The Office of the Ombudsperson of Child's Rights are responsible for the implementation and supervision of the Law on Fundamentals of Protection of the Rights of the Child.
• Numerous institutions have activities relevant to children's safety online, covering, for example, digital policy development or a specific subject such as consumer rights protection. The Lithuanian Safer Internet Centre (SIC), as RRT member, is responsible for implementing certain child safety measures, such as combating the spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
• Other relevant agencies include the State Data Protection Inspectorate (VDAI), the Office of the Inspector of Journalistic Ethics, and the State Consumer Rights Protection Agency (VVTAT).

Read the full Policy monitor country profile for detailed information on key policy governance mechanisms in Lithuania.

Read the full 2025 edition of the Policy monitor report.

Stakeholder involvement

Stakeholder involvement enquires how different stakeholders can participate in policy development. Children’s involvement in policy-making is one such key issue. Additionally, international knowledge exchange about children's digital participation is also relevant to this topic.

• Various ad hoc multistakeholder groups exist across different branches of government, in which stakeholders may contribute to policy deliberation and development.
• Public consultation on this topic is infrequent and irregular.
• Children’s interests are considered indirectly (e.g., through analysis of existing surveys and data collections)

Read the full Policy monitor country profile for detailed information on crucial stakeholder involvement mechanisms in Lithuania.

Read the full 2025 edition of the Policy monitor report.

BIK+ actions

Pillar 1 – safe digital experiences

Safe digital experiences refer to actions taken to protect children from harmful and illegal online content, conduct, contact, and risks as young consumers and to improve their well-being online through a safe, age-appropriate digital environment created in a way that respects children’s best interests. 

Implementing EU laws

• New updates to the Law of the Information Society include the EU directives 2022/2065 and 2024/1689 into the Lithuanian law.
• The updated Law designates the following competent authorities: Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania (RRT) - Digital Services Coordinator; Office of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics – responsible for the articles of the Digital Services Act (DSA) associated with minors’ protection; State Data Protection Inspectorate, responsible for the articles of DSA, related to the protection of personal data; State Consumer Rights Protection Authority, responsible for the articles of DSA, associated with the protection of consumer rights.

Harmful online content

• Law on the Protection of Minors Against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information addresses the area of harmful online content. Art 4 defines harmful online content as follows: “Information that has a negative impact on minors is considered public information that may be harmful to the mental or physical health, physical, mental, spiritual or moral development of minors”.
• Warning pages must be installed before websites that distribute content harmful to children. Distribution of pornographic content in Lithuania is illegal, and if detected, it will be removed from Lithuanian servers.
• There are several Lithuanian institutions with the power to order the removal or disabling of access to online content which is potentially harmful to children: the Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania (RRT), the Office of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics, and the Drug, Tobacco and Alcohol Control Department.
• Children may make a complaint to the internet hotline ‘Švarus internetas’ established in RRT. RRT has formal written agreements with the Police Department and the Office of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics concerning the internet hotline operation, where the hotline's operational procedures are thoroughly described.
• In Lithuania, the Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania (RRT) publishes information about parental control tools and parents’ involvement in their children’s safety on the internet. RRT is responsible for testing and approbating filtering software to be installed in public places where minors can be present, e.g., libraries, computer classes in schools, internet cafes, etc. 

Harmful online conduct

• The protection of children and young people from intimate image abuse and cyberbullying are covered under the Law on Education, Article 23, which addresses the protection of children from all forms of violence in educational institutions.

Age verification

• Young people may open a bank account in one of the Lithuanian banks, use their national ID card to verify their identity, or even sign digitally. However, these systems are not used for every website or platform that should monitor and verify the age of their customers/visitors.
• Lithuania has developed two new tools for age verification that are available to youngsters (14 to 18-year-olds) with parental consent as well as all adults, which help to verify identity (including age) and sign documents electronically. The state registrar runs the LT ID, while ADIC (Identity Documents Personalisation Centre) is run by the Migration Department (using the Lithuanian ID cards with NFC) under the Ministry of the Interior.

Mental health and well-being

• The Lithuanian strategy includes the actions taken by the Lithuanian Safer Internet Centre awareness branch trying to reach the society through education and prevention. Also, the Lithuanian helpline - Vaikų Linija, has released numerous successful campaigns against cyberbullying.

Pillar 2 – digital empowerment

Digital empowerment incorporates actions so that all children, including those in vulnerable situations, acquire the necessary skills and competences to make sound choices and express themselves in the online environment safely and responsibly.

Supports for online safety education

• Teaching online safety has been incorporated into the national curriculum within the newly developed gyvenimo įgūdžių’ (‘Life experience’) programme at school. Online safety is only one of many topics addressed in this program. Cyber safety topics, such as password use, are also a part of the informatics subject school programme.
• As observed by the SIC, for instance, through the informal information exchanges during Safer Internet Day, schools create their own policies on expected behaviour regarding smartphone use or internet etiquette.
• The Digital Ethics Centre has also developed guidelines for schools on digital usage. A recent one is called Iš telefonų į mokyklas (‘from phones to schools’), which aims to ban phones in schools for under-16-year-olds. However, no concrete strategy has been adopted yet.
• The Lithuanian SIC Young Ambassadors programme (Youth Council) is encouraged to participate in peer-to-peer training with their classmates or friends in extra-curricular activities.
• It has become a tradition for the ‘Langas į ateitį’ (‘Window to the Future’) alliance, together with the Safer Internet Centre partners, to visit children's camps every summer and talk to the campers about the internet's opportunities and dangers. They discuss with them where they can turn to when they find themselves in dangerous or uncomfortable situations or when their rights are violated.
• ‘Langas į ateitį’ also organises 10 Safer Internet lessons at schools annually. During these discussions with younger pupils, we raise awareness of children’s rights in relation to the digital environment.
• The Lithuanian Helpline, Vaikau linija, also promotes better awareness of children’s rights through its answers to queries and by actively visiting schools. Vaikau linija , who is assisting in Europe with the single helpline number for children 116111, cooperates with the State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service specialists. This makes it possible to ensure the availability of emotional support for children and the receipt of social and legal consultations and services.
• ‘Vaikai linija’ is a long-standing member of the Lithuanian Emotional Support Services Association (LEPTA), as well as a member of the international organisation ‘Child Helpline International’ (CHI), which unites children's helplines around the world.

Digital literacy skills to empower young people

• Programmes such as the Žinių ekonomikos forumas (Knowledge economy forum) trainings for schools related to media literacy are supported in collaboration with the British Council.
• The Knowledge Economy Forum (KEF) is a professional NGO in Vilnius, Lithuania, with more than 50 members representing research, innovation, and education. It brings together politicians, representatives from universities, other NGOs, and high-tech industry members to act as a think tank/debate platform for the country’s societal and economic progress in the knowledge society, innovation, and education.

Pillar 3 – active participation, respecting children’s rights

Active participation, respecting children’s rights, refers to actions which give children and young people a say in the digital environment, with more child-led activities to foster innovative and creative safe digital experiences.

Active participation

• There is a general lack of a culture of directly consulting young people regarding policy-making in Lithuania. The Lithuanian SIC is trying to shift this perspective by assembling a very active Youth Council (Lithuanian SIC Young Ambassadors programme). However, the Lithuanian SIC does not have a specific mandate for developing or implementing policies in Lithuania.

Supporting children’s rights

• A key priority for the Lithuanian SIC is promoting active participation, youth civic engagement, and advocacy in the digital environment. Other institutions, such as the Digital Ethics Centre or the Lithuanian Police, indirectly contribute to this.

Digital inclusion

• The Lithuanian Agency of Non-Formal Education communicates with vulnerable groups of children by attending events in smaller towns and villages when there is an opportunity (for example, the Subačius culture house event about safer internet). It also organises events such as Kultūrų ratas (Wheel of Cultures) for various minorities living in Lithuania, where a part of the event was dedicated to understanding online safety and the topic of online bullying.

Digital creativity:

• Regional activities include camps, one of which is dedicated to being safe online, and various events during Safer Internet Week, during which the regional libraries participate in promoting positive digital content and services for children.
• The Lithuanian SIC is actively organising events as well as participating in other institution events while promoting children's active participation and digital creativity.
• The national STEAM Centres (Science, technology, engineering, arts, and maths) are actively involved in offering children the opportunity to learn and use their creative skills online and with various equipment (digital and analogue) to create digital and tangible products and empower their creativity.
• The campaign ‘All Digital Weeks’ is organised annually in Lithuania under the coordination of the association ‘Langas į ateitį’ (‘Window to the Future’). In 2023, the three main themes of the campaign were: Digital Skills for ‘Equity, Diversity and Inclusion’– from basic to advanced; digital media literacy; cybersecurity and online safety. During the three thematic weeks of the campaign, Lithuanian citizens, including children, were invited to participate in webinars presenting e-services and the opportunities offered by the internet, participate in educational events in public libraries and educational institutions, and test and improve their knowledge in quizzes. The campaign activities reached over 30,000 Lithuanian citizens.

BIK+ index 2025: Lithuania

The BIK+ index has been developed to provide an aggregated at-a-glance overview of the levels of implementation across the two dimensions, BIK policies and BIK+ actions, in Lithuania compared to the EU27+2 average. Values are shown in per cent.

Please note, the data used in this page and the corresponding country profile was collected in February 2025.