The Better Internet for Kids (BIK) Policy monitor continues to serve as a key reference for understanding how European countries are shaping a safer and more empowering digital world for children and young people. Now in its seventh edition, the 2026 report builds on over a decade of comparative policy tracking, providing valuable insights into the national implementation of the European strategy for a Better Internet for Kids (BIK+), four years after its adoption.
The BIK+ strategy, adopted by the European Commission in May 2022, sets out a comprehensive vision to ensure that children and young people are protected, empowered, and respected online. The BIK Policy monitor 2026 reviews how this vision is being realised across the 27 EU Member States, Iceland, and Norway, assessing both approaches to policy making and on-the-ground actions. It highlights progress, gaps, and good practices under the strategy’s three pillars: safe digital experiences, digital empowerment, and active participation.
Children’s digital lives as a policy priority
The 2026 report highlights that policies promoting digital protection, empowerment, and active participation are increasingly prioritised across European countries, and continue to evolve in response to a changing digital environment, amid rising concerns about the negative impact of digital technology and addictive design on children’s mental health and well-being, as well as the rise of cyberbullying in online spaces. This year’s report also notes an increase in efforts to strengthen the evidence base and to incorporate children’s rights considerations.
The period covered by this report marks a transformative phase in the European digital landscape, with the full-scale implementation of legislative measures such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the adoption of important new instruments, including the Article 28 guidelines on the protection of minors. As digital environments become more complex, national policies have sought to address their potential negative impacts in various ways while advancing more proactive, rights-based, and evidence-led frameworks. National governments are not starting from zero, but instead, building on existing efforts and moving towards more structured and formalised policy responses.
Policy maturation
The preliminary findings of the 2026 BIK Policy monitor suggest that children’s digital lives are now firmly established within national policy agendas across Europe. The central question is no longer whether these issues are being addressed, but how countries are choosing to structure their response. What emerges from the report is not a single model, but a shared movement towards more intentional, visible and accountable policy frameworks.
In that sense, the main development is one of policy maturation. Children’s online protection, empowerment and participation are increasingly being treated not as isolated concerns, but as part of a broader and more coherent public policy agenda. At the same time, the growing visibility of children’s rights in national frameworks points to an important shift in policy framing: children are being recognised not only as users in need of protection, but as rights holders in the digital environment. The key issue, therefore, is not uniformity of approach, but whether national policy gives protection, empowerment, participation and rights a clear and meaningful place within its overall framework.
Curious for more? Explore the Knowledge hub!
This Knowledge hub insight article explores the preliminary findings of the 2026 BIK Policy monitor report.
Read and download the full BIK Policy monitor report 2026 (PDF, 136 MB)
Find all the previous BIK Policy monitor reports in the archive.
stay updated on upcoming outputs by subscribing to the quarterly BIK bulletin.
More from this author
The Better Internet for Kids (BIK) Policy monitor continues to serve as a key reference for understanding how European countries are shaping a safer and more empowering digital world for children and young people. Now in its seventh edition, the 2026 report builds on over a decade of comparative policy tracking, providing valuable insights into the national implementation of the European strategy for a Better Internet for Kids (BIK+), four years after its adoption.
The BIK+ strategy, adopted by the European Commission in May 2022, sets out a comprehensive vision to ensure that children and young people are protected, empowered, and respected online. The BIK Policy monitor 2026 reviews how this vision is being realised across the 27 EU Member States, Iceland, and Norway, assessing both approaches to policy making and on-the-ground actions. It highlights progress, gaps, and good practices under the strategy’s three pillars: safe digital experiences, digital empowerment, and active participation.
Children’s digital lives as a policy priority
The 2026 report highlights that policies promoting digital protection, empowerment, and active participation are increasingly prioritised across European countries, and continue to evolve in response to a changing digital environment, amid rising concerns about the negative impact of digital technology and addictive design on children’s mental health and well-being, as well as the rise of cyberbullying in online spaces. This year’s report also notes an increase in efforts to strengthen the evidence base and to incorporate children’s rights considerations.
The period covered by this report marks a transformative phase in the European digital landscape, with the full-scale implementation of legislative measures such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the adoption of important new instruments, including the Article 28 guidelines on the protection of minors. As digital environments become more complex, national policies have sought to address their potential negative impacts in various ways while advancing more proactive, rights-based, and evidence-led frameworks. National governments are not starting from zero, but instead, building on existing efforts and moving towards more structured and formalised policy responses.
Policy maturation
The preliminary findings of the 2026 BIK Policy monitor suggest that children’s digital lives are now firmly established within national policy agendas across Europe. The central question is no longer whether these issues are being addressed, but how countries are choosing to structure their response. What emerges from the report is not a single model, but a shared movement towards more intentional, visible and accountable policy frameworks.
In that sense, the main development is one of policy maturation. Children’s online protection, empowerment and participation are increasingly being treated not as isolated concerns, but as part of a broader and more coherent public policy agenda. At the same time, the growing visibility of children’s rights in national frameworks points to an important shift in policy framing: children are being recognised not only as users in need of protection, but as rights holders in the digital environment. The key issue, therefore, is not uniformity of approach, but whether national policy gives protection, empowerment, participation and rights a clear and meaningful place within its overall framework.
Curious for more? Explore the Knowledge hub!
This Knowledge hub insight article explores the preliminary findings of the 2026 BIK Policy monitor report.
Read and download the full BIK Policy monitor report 2026 (PDF, 136 MB)
Find all the previous BIK Policy monitor reports in the archive.
stay updated on upcoming outputs by subscribing to the quarterly BIK bulletin.
- BIK policy monitor policy Better Internet for Kids (BIK+) strategy
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