EU policy-makers must ensure that all families are given support and guidance to access and navigate the digital environment in a meaningful way. This includes strong legal frameworks as well as strong and “low-threshold” evidence-based support and prevention measures for families. COFACE has produced a policy brief highlighting the importance of digital technologies for children and their families, and analysing whether existing and currently debated EU frameworks aimed at ensuring safe and empowering digital experiences for children integrate a families perspective.

Most children in Europe today live in media-rich households where digital technologies are part of their everyday lives. Nevertheless, the ways children and their families engage with digital technologies are complex and have varying effects. On the one hand, digital technologies offer unique opportunities for all family members. Digital technologies support children in their education and leisure activities, for example, but also make it easier for family members to stay in touch with each other or to play together. On the other hand, children – and adults – face online risks and challenges. Some of these risks include, but are not limited to, cyberbullying, mis- and disinformation, harmful and illegal content, and online child sexual abuse. These risks have a major impact on a child’s safety, and the mental and physical well-being of both children and their families. Some families may face additional challenges in the digital environment due to specific vulnerabilities linked to poverty, disability or discrimination.

The negative effects of technology need to be addressed through a mix of strong legal frameworks as well as strong and “low-threshold” evidence-based support and prevention measures for families. This means on the one hand to create inclusive and accessible online environments, including through appropriate self-regulation by the industries concerned. On the other hand, it means supporting educators (formal and non-formal), parents and carers in their digital literacy, but also promoting work-life balance, so that parents and carers have time to support their children.

This COFACE policy brief highlights the importance of digital technologies for children and their families, presents some activities that are in place or in current debate at EU level and draws some findings for further measures to support families in the digital era. To do this, the first section analyses some of the EU frameworks which include measures to ensure safe and empowering digital experiences for children, and whether they integrate a families perspective. The second section of the policy brief spotlights some practices of COFACE member organisations from 9 different European countries. The practices are diverse, ranging from boosting digital parenting skills to tackling and preventing specific risks, such as child sexual abuse online. Finally, the concluding section brings key messages and recommendations for EU policy makers.

Implementation of the European legal and policy frameworks mentioned in this brief is key, and these should be strengthened and continued under the new 2024-2029 European Union mandate following the June 2024 European elections.  Besides the State level and the ICT industry, action is also needed at community level, involving all key stakeholders close to the lives of the families and children. Such community-level actions, for example, can be strengthened by channelling funding to key stakeholders (e.g. local authorities, non-profits, schools), through a mix of operating and project grants. Family organisations, like the ones united in COFACE and its members are among those stakeholders.

COFACE will continue to monitor closely the various EU initiatives impacting families, using the COFACE Digitalisation Principles as the key compass for assessing them.

Read the full brief here.

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The EU and its governments must act swiftly for a families-sensitive approach to energy policy and planning. This includes integrated policy solutions that combine energy and social policies – these are vital in addressing the multifaceted nature of energy poverty. COFACE has developed a policy brief to highlight the family dimension of energy poverty often overlooked by policy makers.

Recently, COFACE members have reported worrying impacts of energy poverty on families. Given the negative effects of the current energy crisis, they are at increased risk of poverty and social exclusion. This policy brief builds on inputs from COFACE members to highlight the family dimension of energy poverty often overlooked by policy makers. This especially applies to families which may be in more vulnerable situations, such as single parent households, women-headed households, families with disabled family members, as well as larger families and intergenerational households.

The policy brief examines what factors contribute to supporting a more families-sensitive approach to energy policy and programming for the effective implementation of social rights, namely factoring in the impact of energy poverty on children and their rights, on women and on persons with disabilities.  In the light of the current energy crisis, this brief also considers what further policy adjustments are needed to address new emerging challenges. For instance, due to the inflation resulting from the economic crisis, the increase of child benefits or subsidies for low-income households to help them afford rising energy costs, through energy vouchers or through affordable basic energy packages.

The policy brief stresses the challenge of energy poverty focusing on families formulated together with our members mentioned above. The second part highlights the issues of different types of families in terms of energy poverty. The third part provides a general overview of EU policies tackling energy poverty, highlighting their social aspects and impacts on families. The fourth part of the brief brings in the national perspective and presents national measures to help energy poor citizens. For this part, the brief is based on crucial input from COFACE members. Finally, the concluding section highlights some COFACE messages and priorities for future EU policy and legislation, providing recommendations in this regard.

EU policies and Member States must recognise the unique challenges faced by these families in vulnerable situations and implement effective measures to alleviate their energy poverty. This includes developing tailored support programmes, by promoting energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources, investing in housing measures and public transport and targeted subsidies for low-income households.

By prioritising the specific needs of these families, civil society is ready to work towards co-creating a more inclusive energy system that leaves no one behind.

While existing EU policies provide a solid framework, it is crucial that the families dimension be fully integrated into these frameworks, taking into account the specific needs and vulnerabilities of households with children and dependents. Therefore, it is essential for Member States to proactively implement and adapt these measures, ensuring that no European family is left in the cold at home. By prioritising the family perspective and facilitating collaboration between EU institutions and national governments, a comprehensive and inclusive approach can be created to tackling energy poverty, where all families have access to affordable, reliable, and sufficient energy services. This commitment to tackling energy poverty at the families level will contribute to a more sustainable and socially just Europe.

Read the full brief here.

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COFACE Disability Policy Brief

Breaking policy silos to better support children with disabilities and their families

#BeTheSHIFT #IDPD2022 #DisabilityRights #ChildRights #childrenwithdisabilities

In the run-up to 2022 International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the COFACE Disability Platform for the rights of persons with disabilities and their families launched a policy brief looking at how children with disabilities are covered in recent EU Social Policy Frameworks. With this brief COFACE Disability wants to launch a reflection on the intersection between disability and age and how to integrate it in policies and programmes. For this EU Year of Youth COFACE Disability has focused this first brief on Children with Disabilities and their families.

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The aim of this policy brief is double:

• First to take stock of how children with disabilities are covered in EU social policies;
• Second to launch a broader reflection on how to deepen the interaction between disability and age in policy making.

In this exercise, the COFACE Disability Platform has looked at some recently adopted EU frameworks. This brief does not have the ambition of offering a holistic view of all the EU policies and measures that can have an impact on children with disabilities and their families, rather it aims to lay down the foundations for reflection around the development of more inclusive and intersectional policies, with a specific focus on policies falling under the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan:

• The European Child Guarantee;
• The European Strategy on the Rights of the Child;
• The European Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030;
• The European Care Strategy.

The policy brief starts with clarifications, describing the whole-family lens of the 2030 COFACE Child Compass as well as key references to children in international and EU human rights law. Then follows the analysis of the selected EU policy frameworks, giving an overview of measures which specifically include or target children with disabilities. This leads into a reflection on interrelated well-being of children and their families, highlighting the need to consider children with disabilities within their family and community context to ensure two-generation supports are put in place for positive and sustainable outcomes. The concluding section reflects on the results of the analysis and on the steps needed to address gaps at the intersections of these EU social policies.

Read the full brief here.

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It is the ambition of COFACE Families Europe to support reconciliation of work and family life by developing policies and workplace measures around three pillars: access to Resources, Services and Time. Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is an essential part of the Services pillar.

COFACE Families Europe has been advocating for inclusive, accessible, affordable, and quality ECEC, as a two- and multi-generation tool benefitting children and adults.

We highlight the multiple socio-economic benefits of ECEC, not only for children but as well for families and society as a whole: improving the inclusiveness, quality, accessibility, and effectiveness of ECEC systems across Europe is therefore key. These benefits depend on ECEC services which are inclusive, accessible, affordable, and of quality, as previously underlined. If one of these items is missing, it can have detrimental effects on child development (especially from disadvantaged backgrounds) as well as on the work-life balance of families and society as a whole.

In this brief, ECEC is examined as a tool to tackle inequality and poverty (child poverty is, unfortunately, a reality in Europe, and child poverty means family poverty), to promote work-life balance and equal opportunities for women and men to both care and work, and to build an economy which cares. ECEC can play an important role in all three areas, with leadership from the European Union to ensure coordinated efforts and actions across countries.

The brief highlights the important role of the European Union to boost ECEC and which should be the key elements of an ambitious 2030 ECEC strategy. There has been a shift of paradigm regarding ECEC within European Union actions, which is analysed through recalling the importance of the Barcelona targets, and putting the spotlight on key frameworks such as the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, the High-Quality Framework for ECEC (around five key dimensions highlighted), and the European Child Guarantee.

Last, but not least, the brief highlights a series of measures that COFACE Families Europe recommends in its Child Compass (2020) and EU Deal for Childcare (2018) – measures based on a whole-society approach, with ECEC at the intersection of key EU frameworks.

Members of COFACE Families Europe will continue monitoring and advocating for these measures, raising awareness, with special attention to the quality of ECEC as an essential precondition to achieve its multiple positive impacts. They expect the EU Institutions and national governments to implement these important and very needed social rights for families of today.

Download this policy brief in PDF version.

Photo: ©Getty Images Signature via Canva

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In October 2020, the German Presidency of the EU chaired an EPSCO Council meeting which included a debate on equal participation of women and men in the labour market. They exchanged views on ways to further promote gender equality and combat the segregation of women and men in the labour market. As infection numbers are climbing throughout Europe and we’re on the verge of a second COVID-19 wave, the debate took the current situation on board.

“The coronavirus crisis has shown: women keep things running. All over Europe more than 75 percent of critical workers are women. But in leadership positions, women are underrepresented. And women take on the greater share of unpaid care work – often at the cost of their own career and pension. Today, I discussed with my EU colleagues how gender equality in the labour market can be promoted. Gender equality in the labour market is not a luxury. On the contrary: it will make the EU more socially and economically robust. Especially in times of crisis.” Dr. Franziska Giffey, German Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth

EPSCO Council Ministers agreed that the current pandemic highlighted the gender imbalance in many sectors. They stressed that the crisis had also shown the urgent need, but also valuable opportunities, to promote gender equality in the labour market in general and in social professions in particular. Furthermore, The EU Ministers for gender equality will exchange views on the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis regarding gender gaps in Europe next 19-20 November.

The compulsory lockdowns, school closure and teleworking have pushed society into a “new reality and normality” in the family, working and social spheres of life. Parents who can telework are confined at home, trying to balance work, parenting, care and schooling, and are under increasing pressure with further consequences for the mental health of both children and adults. The vulnerabilities of families have now been magnified significantly with the global pandemic bringing all inequalities to the fore. Since the outburst of the pandemic, COFACE Families Europe has advocated direct help to families through universally designed measures which support all types of families while targeting the most vulnerable, putting ethical considerations, equal treatment and human rights at the core.

This COFACE Policy Brief aims to explain how Covid-19 has negatively impacted the situation of families, especially the most vulnerable ones. Furthermore, the brief analyses the different measures taken to mitigate the situation including extraordinary leaves, care vouchers, flexible work solutions, reflecting a mix of measures based on resources, services and flexible working. Last, but not least, the brief is a call for going beyond the implementation of the transposition of the Work-Life Balance Directive. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures to boost investment in social and healthcare services to support families.

See full policy brief here.

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Schools are key environments in which children acquire the necessary skills and competences to navigate throughout the adult world. As such, they carry a heavy responsibility in determining the future of our children. The past few decades have seen a major boom in information and communication technologies, especially with the advent of the Internet and wireless devices like smartphones.

There is no doubt that our world is becoming more and more “digital”, however, maintaining a healthy balance between our “online” and “offline” lives, or the time we spend behind screens and doing other activities, is more important than ever. COFACE-Families Europe works extensively on the topic of digitalization, and ensuring that all families, parents and children alike, maximize the benefits while avoiding the pitfalls. This extends to the positive use of digital tools in schools to ensure more inclusive learning. With the contributions of Clare Morvan (eTwinning) and Julien Léonard (UNAF) at our European conference on building sustainable and futureproof education systems, we explored challenges and solutions.

Claire Morvan, Communication Manager, eTwinning, Europe.

eTwinning, co-funded under Erasmus+, is a community of about 200.000 schools in Europe, offering a platform for staff (teachers, headteachers, librarians, etc.), working in a school in one of the European countries involved, to communicate, collaborate, develop projects, share and to be part of the most exciting learning community in Europe.

Inclusion is a sense of belonging, and this is what the eTwinning project strives to achieve. The eTwinning online portal allows for schools to connect across borders on a variety of issues. One example of the inclusive power of the eTwinning portal is the inclusion of migrants. Students and teachers from various countries could exchange and learn about the migration phenomenon, talk to migrants from other countries etc. It enables students to become actors in the learning process and radically change the way they learn. The eTwinning platform also allows for interaction with parents.

Julien Léonard, Expert, Union Nationale des Associations Familiales, UNAF, France

The recent law banning student’s smartphones in school has been widely discussed in the media. But this is not a “new” law. It was the case since 2010 but the law was never applied, hence the need for a revision of the law to try to implement it. However, it will still be complex given the autonomy some schools have.

Why did the French government decide to ban smartphones? Some research suggests that more than 2 hours of exposure to screens per day affects cognitive performances. Children spend on average over 6,5 hours a day on screens per day in the US, which is a lot.

The international recommendations are pretty much aligned with 2 hours of screen time per day, 9 to 11 hours of sleep and ensure that children have regular physical activities. Less than 1 child in 5 meets these recommendations in Europe.

One important question is also the type of activities in front of screens which children are involved in: watching a reality show or researching information on Wikipedia? While too much screen time on average decreases the cognitive abilities of children, this is affected by the type of screen time (for instance, learning fine motor skills by forming letters on a tablet). Thus children should be supervised by parents when given smartphones or similar technology and especially, not use these devices as baby sitters.

Ultimately, digital tools should complement traditional learning tools in schools. There are ways to blend digital and analog learning to achieve superior educational outcomes. For instance, learning to code, using some drawing applications, interactive applications to learn about math etc. Digital tools can also help include children with disabilities in order for them to enjoy the same experience in school as regular kids, for instance via text to speech or speech to text tools etc. Thus if children learn to use digital technologies responsibly, we can maximize the positive benefits.

Discussion and key messages

• Interaction between teachers and parents from different cultural backgrounds.

Sometimes it may be difficult for teachers to create a trustful and stable relationship with parents from different cultural backgrounds or of migrant origin. In this regard, teachers have to make an extra effort to create a special relationship with the parents and ensure that both the child and parents feel included in the school and in the country more generally. In this respect, digital tools can also help create this relationship. The eTwinning portal also has this kind of objective, building bridges between various countries, cultures, communities.

• Digital gap and digital access

It is clearly necessary to work on the digital gap, and make sure that parents have access to both the knowledge and access to the technology for them to be more involved with their children’s education. The eTwinning platform organizes several seminars and other online activites to help teachers and parents to be more confident in using digital tools.

But there are also other important questions arising from the use of technology in schools, like over-reliance on technology (some schools in Belgium, for instance, do not have books, only iPads). This poses clear challenges in terms of screen time (impact on eye sight for instance) and also commercial capture of children (promotion of a specific brand/operating system).

One idea would be to use specific hardware/software to address these challenges. For instance, using unbranded readers with tactile technology which allows to use stylus. This means students can still practice handwriting, do not damage their eye sight, and the software can be tailored to focus on educational applications.

It also ensures that certain analog skills (like hand writing) do not disappear in case they are needed in a world which may be short on electric energy.

• Programmed obsolescence and digital exclusion

There is clearly an issue with schools using the students’ own devices when integrating digital tools and teaching in the school. For students from lower socio-economic background, their devices (smartphones) might become obsolete relatively fast (lack of software support for instance, which will prevent them from running certain applications), and which would lead to a feeling of digital exclusion rather than inclusion.

To address this issue, schools must always provide the hardware devices, to ensure that students have equal access and benefit from the digital/analog blended teaching.

• Health considerations beyond the screen

While most of the research on the impact of digital devices on health have focused on the impact on eye-sight and the “blue light” effect of screens on sleeping patterns, there is new research looking into the electromagnetic “pollution” produced by wireless technologies, a syndrome called electromagnetic hypersensitivity. While the evidence is not yet clear, parents are encouraged to follow some simple and basic steps like turning off the wifi at night, putting smartphones into “flight” mode or turning them off before going to bed. Schools are encouraged to use LAN connections instead of wifi. Further research may find that aligning the different electromagnetic band widths with the Schumann frequency (the natural resonance frequency of the Earth’s magnetic field) might help in diminishing these symptoms.

Conclusion

Digitalization, the Internet and mobile devices, are here to stay. While many public institutions, governments, schools and teachers have struggled in finding the right “mix” between more traditional or “analog” teaching methods and the new tools enabled by digitalization, things are moving fast. Governments are developing new curricula taking into account digitalization and digital skills, teachers are harnessing the potential of these technologies for many purposes including blended learning (mixing digital with “physical”), inclusive learning, collaborative learning (cross-border with other schools), and many others, all the while minimizing the potentially negative effects on their students (screen time, developing critical thinking skills and resilience with regards to online content, etc). Many technologies are still in their infancy and more will need to be done to ensure they will be taken up in the most responsible and positive way for student’s healthy development. COFACE-Families Europe will continue to monitor these developments and provide insight and recommendations on how to best include digital (connected) tools in schools.

European resources

At the European level, some of the note-worthy initiatives on digitalization and schools include:

Commission launches new tool to support digital teaching and learning in schools
Digital Education Action Plan
Digital Competence framework 2.0
eTwinning
Digital Learning and ICT in education

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During the COFACE Conference on Inclusive Education in Graz, Workshop 1 looked into the legislative framework on inclusive education in Italy, Luxemburg and Portugal. Its aim was to explore the challenges and the opportunities of the creation of an inclusive schooling system adapted to the needs of children with disabilities.

Inclusion and equal opportunities of persons with disabilities are at the core of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), ratified by all the European Member States and by the European Union itself. Article 24 of the Convention calls on State Parties to ensure an inclusive education system at all levels guaranteeing that persons with disabilities are not excluded from the general education system on the basis of their disability and that they can therefore access education in the communities where they live, receiving the support they require within the general education system, through individualized support measures. By means of reasonable accommodation, States Parties have to ensure the participation of persons with disabilities in primary, secondary and general tertiary education vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning without discrimination and on an equal base with others.

Luxemburg, Italy and Portugal have legislative frameworks addressing the right to education of children with disabilities in place since before the UNCRPD ratification and different ways to integrate the special and regular education systems to create barrier-free societies and education systems. During our European conference on building sustainable and future-proof education systems (4-5th October in Graz), we examined these countries more closely.

Challenges and opportunities

The main challenges in the implementation of inclusive education systems emerging in the presentations are:

• the transformation of existing regular schools structures to ensure a reasonable accommodation for children with special needs;
• the transfer of know-how from the specialized professionals to those of the mainstream sector;
• and the reconversion of specialised services in resource centers and the establishment of forms of cooperation between civil society and administration in the support to children with disabilities.

The speakers, representing civil society organisations of Luxembourg, Italy and Portugal illustrated the legislative process of inclusive education in their respective countries showing also how the legislation changed after the UNCRPD ratification and how administrations, schools, families and services worked together in their context to ensure the inclusion of children with special needs.

Luxemburg

Michèle Racke, Deputy Director of APEMH, presented the case of Luxembourg where children with special needs were excluded from the school system until the 1973 law, extending the schooling right and obligation to all children. This led to the development of special schools for children with disabilities. In 1994, mainstream schools opened their doors to children with disabilities, and starting from 1998 they also offered support services to them. The approach of Luxembourg developed in the direction of society inclusiveness, accompanying schooling with non-formal education activities and investing in inclusive pedagogy to accommodate all children. The role of civil society has been to accompany this inclusion strategy by transferring their know-how to the mainstream sector. In 1994, mainstream schools opened their doors to children with disabilities, and starting from 1998 they also offered support services to them.

APEMH has been active for 50 years in the field of support for people with intellectual disabilities and their families and offered training to professionals, documenting their best practices and creating a resource center on inclusive pedagogy to support, promote and develop inclusive child care services.

Italy

Gaetano Santonocito, Managing Director of A.I.A.S. Città di Monza Onlus, illustrated the legislative process in Italy on the inclusion of children with disabilities in the education system. In Italy children with special needs are included in mainstream schools by law starting from 1971 with the right to a support teacher starting from 1977. In 1992 the inter-ministerial law 104 guaranteed social inclusion and respect of human rights of persons with disabilities. In 2009, Italy ratified the UNCRPD.

The 2017 law on social inclusion focused on qualifications of support teachers and on a multi-stakeholders approach to guarantee the social inclusion of children with disabilities beyond the education system: every pupil with disabilities is entitled to an Individual Education Plan, drafted by school managers with parents, care workers and teachers. Also, school inter-institutional working groups look at the social inclusion of pupils with disabilities involving rehabilitation centers, school, health officers and families.

The law re-defines the role of support teachers who have to pass a specific exam after at least 300 hours of training. In 2017, the total of pupils with disabilities increased by 8,3% compared to 2014/2015, in particular in the schools of the South of Italy.

Portugal

The psychologist Isabel Amaro, and the occupational therapist Maria José Lorena working at Fundaçao LIGA presented the case of Portugal. There, regular schools opened to students with special education needs in 1991, whereas the 1986 law settled special schools. In 2009 the Law Decree 281 created a national system on early intervention addressing children from 0 to 6. In 2018 two different laws reorganised equal opportunities in education and created answers for each and every student, regardless of personal disability or social situation.

Fundaçao LIGA has been active in facilitating the inclusion of children with severe neuromotor disabilities in regular schools of the area of residence starting from 1987. They worked in specialised teams composed ofdifferent professionals including psychologists, social service technicians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and physiatrist. Their methodology was based on an ecological perspective, pedagogy centred on the student, work in partnership with the family through an interdisciplinary team, meeting biweekly and on continuous training.

They developed activities and actions addressed to students such as an Individual Educational Plan, individualized support, hippotherapy, adapted sport, they used support technology and produced pedagogical materials. They also worked on family empowerment by offering group meetings, information on community rights and services and counseling on support products.

Conclusion

The transition from specialised to inclusive schooling systems is necessary to comply with the UNCRPD and to avoid the segregation of children with disabilities from their communities. This process presents a few challenges and requires therefore policies that foresee investment in school settings adapted to the needs of children with disabilities and in training of school staff, where civil society can play a fundamental role in the capacity building process of the mainstream sector. Another fundamental element to ensure inclusion and well-being of children with disabilities and their families is the establishment of multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder partnerships that can get a deeper understanding of the specific needs of the children with disabilities and plan individualised tailor-made activities including formal education, non-formal education and family empowerment.

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As the date of the effective application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) draws near, organisations big and small are examining how its various provisions will apply to them. Indeed, from the 25^th of May 2018, there are a number of features and concepts in this Regulation which could potentially transform the web, including the way children experience it.

What is a child?

Assessing the impact of the GDPR on children is a tricky endeavour. A 6-year-old child will certainly be affected differently to an 11-year-old or a 15-year-old. Younger children would benefit the most from higher data protection by default; older children might suffer from it since it might limit their online experience (or constantly seek parental consent). As it turns out, a data protection by design and by default is one of the new obligations of the GDPR (Article 23). As many online service providers claim to abide by such a rule already, we will have to wait to see what the end effects of this provision will be, especially on children.

But let us start with one of the most controversial provisions – article 8 of the GDPR: children below 13 (at least) or 16 (at most) will need parental consent for the processing of their personal data by a data controller (online service provider). This poses many questions in terms of children’s right to privacy but also the practical implications of such a provision, forcing children to pester their parent(s) every time they install an app or subscribe to an online service. It may further limit the possibility of children from accessing a service if parental consent requirements cannot be fulfilled because of technical conditions imposed by the service (verification via e-ID, etc.). It could also simply push services to adopt a ‘post COPPA’ strategy: put a threshold of 16 for the use of their services, being fully aware that children below the age of 16 will lie about their age to subscribe, and finally resorting to a very uncomfortable ‘witch hunt’ where accounts of ‘minors’ are randomly deleted in order to pretend to comply with the rules. Children would end up suffering from the double blow of a lower protection (since they have to provide consent as if they were adults using a service designed for adults) and the potential loss of all their data in case their trickery is discovered by the service.

Alternatively, online service providers could decide to set up a “special” form of online account where at no time do they process personal data, which children could thereby access without having to seek parental consent. This may be the “ideal” situation, but is highly unlikely. However, children may truly benefit by enjoying a relatively unfiltered web, free from targeted advertising, but online service providers might suffer from less advertising revenue.

Users as the weakest link

User consent as such, is a very controversial issue. It glosses over the reality that users never read terms of service and tick away any box to access a service, regardless of the end effect on their privacy, leaving it up to whistle blowers, activists or civil society organisations to denounce abuses and put pressure on service providers to change their terms of service. Most importantly, users do not have a choice since ticking boxes is a precondition to using most online services, putting users in a ‘take it or leave it’ situation. Sure, you can protect your privacy by not subscribing to any online service, but at the same time, you will be excluded from participating in the online world.

Thankfully, the GDPR does address some of these concerns. Firstly, it tackles the point raised above head on in Article 7 (4), where consent may not be considered as given ‘freely’ if the provision of a service is made conditional on the consent to the processing of data which is not necessary for providing that service. Secondly, the Regulation clearly mentions that “children deserve specific protection of their personal data”, especially when used “for the purposes of marketing or creating personality or user profiles”. Thirdly, it provides any data subject the right to object to the use of his/her personal data for the purposes of “direct marketing” (Article 19 (2)).

All of these provisions can impact the experience of children online and especially their exposure to marketing and advertising. Since Article 19 (2) gives every user the right to object to the use of his/her personal data for direct marketing, online service providers may not be able to circumvent this right by simply pretending that there are no children on their service or that their service is not designed for children.

Transparency and comparability

The GDPR’s third chapter dealing with transparency includes many details on the modalities for communicating to users about how their data is being processed. It includes requirements such as the use of ‘plain language’ and the use of pictograms or icons to make it easier for users to understand. By ensuring a common standard for communicating about data processing, the GDPR will enable easier comparability between services in terms of their data processing activities. This could encourage the emergence of comparison websites which rate different online service providers according to their respect of privacy and data protection, including online service providers best suitable for children.

Data portability

Enabling consumers to switch between services (data portability, article 20) is essential to improve the overall quality of service providers. For instance, in the earlier days of mobile communications where operators locked consumers into contracts or made it impossible to keep your phone number, after the legislator made it easier to switch between service providers, the quality of the services improved. The same holds true for online services.  At the moment, it is impossible to transfer your data from one social network to another. Part of the problem is simply the incompatibility of the data between certain online services. For instance, Tweets cannot be easily converted to Facebook posts and vice versa. Nevertheless, providing the right to export your data in an interoperable format may enable the emergence of options by service providers to import data from other service providers into their own.
It is the intention of the GDPR to ensure the right for users to get a copy of their data in a “usable” format to take it to another service, which is indeed one of the preconditions to allow for switching services. The possibilities of easily comparing between data protection policies coupled with easily switching between online service providers could put enough pressure on online service providers to behave more responsibly and thus create a better environment for all users, including children.

Objection to profiling and automated decisions

All EU citizens will have the right to object to profiling (article 21), contest automated decisions by requesting that there is some “manual” review of a decision (article 22) and ask for transparency and clarity over how algorithms arrive at certain decisions (article 15). All of these rights are extremely important, especially regarding the access to certain crucial services like healthcare insurance or mortgage loans. However, it is still unclear how these rights will work in practice. If profiling is a precondition for accessing a service, it is difficult to see how users will be able to object, save for renouncing to accessing the service. Asking for a “manual” review of an automated decision may amount to no more than a person manually approving an automated decision, which will change very little. Finally, requiring transparency over how automated decisions are taken may be impossible. Many automated decisions are now taken by algorithms generated via novel methods such as “deep learning”, where computer programmes learn from a set of data without the input from humans.

Flexibility and European courts

One of the main caveats of the GDPR is all the Member States’ flexibility in applying/interpreting the regulation. In order to accommodate the concerns of all stakeholders, much of the wording inside the GDPR ended up with “may” instead of “must”, which may (pun intended) limit its impact to some extent. Ultimately, much of the GDPR will require clarification by European courts. Also, what an “interoperable format” is in practice for data portability or interpretation of what constitutes data “not necessary for providing a service” will most probably have to be clarified by the European Court of Justice following lawsuits. For instance, at present, Facebook provides users with all their data in HTML format, which, although it is widely used and readable, does not enable users to upload their content on another service (this would require Facebook to export data in a database readable format).

To conclude, the GDPR is a step in the right direction in terms of enhancing EU citizens ‘data protection. Its implementation and the use of Member States’ ‘flexibility’ will show whether it will have the intended effect.

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