The need for targeted criminal provisions and platforms’ responsibility to effectively address cyberbullying and online harassment

B100205/2026

European Parliament resolution on the need for targeted criminal provisions and platforms’ responsibility to effectively address cyberbullying and online harassment

(2026/2693(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989, and General comment No. 25 (2021) on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment,

– having regard to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention) of 23 November 2001,

– having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, in particular Article 165 thereof on education and Article 83(1) thereof regarding judicial cooperation in criminal matters,

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (the General Data Protection Regulation), in particular Recital 38 thereof regarding the specific protection of children’s personal data,

– having regard to Rule 136 of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas cyberbullying and digital harassment have become critical security and social issues; whereas reports from national authorities and Europol indicate a significant rise in digital harassment cases involving minors, with thousands of incidents reported annually;

B. whereas the psychological impact of online bullying is profound and often irreversible, leading to chronic depression, severe anxiety, social withdrawal and permanent trauma; whereas, tragically, the most extreme cases of digital persecution have led to numerous young people across Europe committing suicide, with significant impacts on their families and communities;

C. whereas child victims of cyberbullying often face a unique form of harm where the abuse follows them into the safety of their homes through personal devices, making the violation of their dignity particularly severe;

D. whereas the non-consensual sharing of intimate images (so-called revenge porn) inflicts deep psychological scars and can lead to long-term social and professional consequences, effectively stigmatising a victim for life if platforms do not intervene in a timely manner;

E. whereas the protection of private life and the integrity of the family unit are fundamental principles rooted in the constitutional traditions of the Member States and international law, and must be upheld against any form of intrusive or centralised digital surveillance;

F. whereas the primary responsibility for the education and moral development of children lies with the family, and the primary legislative competence for education and criminal justice remains with the Member States, which are best positioned to adopt measures appropriate to their sociocultural contexts;

1. Expresses its full and unreserved solidarity with all victims of cyberbullying and online harassment, as well as with the families of those young victims who have tragically lost their lives; reaffirms that every child has the right to grow up in a digital environment free from fear, coercion and persecution;

2. Reaffirms that any EU-level action must strictly respect the principle of subsidiarity; stresses that Member States are the primary actors in defining criminal offences related to bullying and in structuring educational curricula aimed at preventing such phenomena;

3. Calls on the Member States to draw inspiration from established national best practices that are already being implemented in several Member States; commends, in that regard, national legislation, which, in some cases, has introduced new provisions such as liability for the distribution of intimate images without consent, and the criminalisation of the threat to share such images as a form of coercion and ‘sextortion’;

4. Believes that while Member States must improve their criminal law responses to effectively tackle these new types of offences, the most effective measures continue to be prevention and promoting the responsible use of the internet; stresses that educating minors to navigate the digital world consciously, understanding both its risks and its opportunities, is paramount to their protection;

5. Expresses grave concern about the rise of ‘revenge porn’ and calls for national legal responses to ensure the swift removal of intimate content and the prosecution of perpetrators, emphasising that these acts constitute a serious violation of human dignity;

6. Encourages digital platforms to take greater responsibility in this regard; insists that they implement swift mechanisms that allow victims to secure the immediate removal of intimate content shared without consent, and that prevent re-uploading;

7. Calls, furthermore, for the introduction of clear, visible and user-friendly support tools, enabling users to easily report problematic content or behaviour, block or restrict interactions, and be swiftly directed to appropriate support services;

8. Calls for the implementation of effective mechanisms enabling users to explicitly express their disinterest in certain content, particularly content of an inappropriate or violent nature, and insists that these tools must lead to a real and binding adaptation of the content streams offered, in accordance with the wishes of the user and the need to protect minors;

9. Emphasises the crucial importance of proper digital literacy among both students and parents; believes that the generational digital divide often leaves families without sufficient tools to monitor their children’s safety online and urges the Member States to support awareness campaigns that empower parents as the primary guardians of their children’s digital lives;

10. Recognises that children’s online safety, in its widest sense, constitutes a fundamental policy objective; warns against attempts to exploit safety concerns as a pretext for the introduction of mandatory digital IDs or the indiscriminate scanning of private messages, which are measures that would infringe upon the privacy of all users;

11. Expresses strong reservations regarding the Commission proposal for a European age verification app; highlights that this app was hacked and circumvented in record time shortly after its launch, thereby seriously undermining its robustness and effectiveness in protecting minors; warns, furthermore, of significant risks related to data protection and cybersecurity, as well as the false sense of security that this app may create;

12. Notes the ongoing discussions at Member State and EU level to enhance online safety for users, in particular minors; emphasises that age verification is only one of several tools and calls for a comprehensive approach based primarily on stronger platform accountability, in particular as regards the design and functioning of their algorithms, the wider deployment of effective parental control tools, and measures to limit minors’ screen exposure; recalls the diversity of views among the Member States on appropriate age thresholds for access to online social media platforms, video-sharing services and assistants based on artificial intelligence (AI), and underlines that setting such thresholds falls within their competence;

13. Points out that the protection of children and the protection of privacy, including the possibility of accessing services anonymously, are not mutually exclusive; insists that ‘privacy by design’ must remain the standard;

14. Recalls the obligations laid down in the Artificial Intelligence Act regarding transparency, in particular the requirement that natural persons be informed when they are interacting with an AI system, as well as the obligation to label or disclose AI-generated or manipulated content, including synthetic audio, image, video or text content, in order to ensure its identification; considers that these requirements constitute important tools to prevent the misuse of AI, in particular in the context of cyberbullying and the dissemination of deceptive or harmful content;

15. Highlights the need to strengthen safeguards against the abusive use of AI, in particular practices referred to as ‘nudification’, consisting in generating or manipulating sexually explicit images without the consent of the persons concerned; supports the developments envisaged in this regard in the context of the ongoing work on the omnibus relating to AI;

16. Encourages the Member States to ensure that national law enforcement agencies, specifically specialised cybercrime units, are equipped with the necessary multi-disciplinary training and psychological expertise to assist minors who are victims of digital offences; stresses that these units must be capable of providing an adequate response that avoids re-traumatisation, ensuring that victims and their families are supported by experts specifically trained for that purpose; encourages Europol to be ready to support the Member States in this regard upon request;

17. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.