The European Commission on Tuesday proposed creating an EU-wide app to help young victims of online bullying safely report abuse and access support, as part of a broader effort to protect minors from digital harms.
Part of a broader EU push to shield minors from online harm, the app proposal is part of an "action plan" against a phenomenon afflicting as many as one in six children between the ages of 11 and 15, the commission said.
It is still at early stages: as a first step, the EU executive said it will develop an app blueprint for the bloc's 27 member states to adapt for local use – drawing on successful existing models such as France's "3018" app and helpline.
But ultimately, it should let children confidentially report bullying to a national helpline, safely store and send evidence, and receive help from law enforcement, education or child protection services.
"Children and young people have the right to be safe when they are online," said EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen. "Cyberbullying undermines this right, leaving them feeling hurt, lonely, and humiliated. No child should be made to feel this way."
The proposal comes as the EU pushes on multiple fronts to shield children from harmful social media impacts – from exploring a bloc-wide ban for younger teens, to working on a new age verification tool, to clamping down on "addictive" features in apps.
Beyond the app proposal, its bullying "action plan" calls for targeted enforcement of existing EU laws to help curb the phenomenon.
That includes toughening rules under the bloc's mammoth Digital Services Act (DSA) to protect minors from harmful content, and backing targeted enforcement of its AI Act to help combat the use of deepfakes for bullying.
