Government unveils strategy to boost online safety for children and tighten school phone rules
The cabinet presented a plan to protect children online, including stricter phone use rules in primary and secondary schools, without allocating new budget funds.
In a strategy brief to the Tweede Kamer, State Secretary Willemijn Aerdts outlined the cabinet's approach to safeguarding children online, focusing on protection, provider responsibility, and digital resilience. The proposals will be financed from current budgets, with no extra spending earmarked. Among the measures, schools may be required to keep phones locked away or at home, building on existing rules that already ban classroom use.
The cabinet also supports a 15-year minimum age for social-media platforms and plans to classify commercial online content made by children under 15 as child labour, imposing fines for violations. Additionally, the strategy seeks stricter EU-aligned safety standards for digital services aimed at minors. Vulnerable groups will be consulted in policy development and monitoring.
Why it matters
It sets new national rules to protect minors from digital risks and influences EU policy on online safety.
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