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

B100208/2026

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 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in particular its articles on human dignity, the right to life, freedom of expression, the rights of the child, victims’ rights, privacy of communications, and the protection of personal data,

– having regard to Article 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA,

– having regard to Directive (EU) 2024/1385 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 on combating violence against women and domestic violence,

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market for Digital Services (Digital Services Act) (DSA), and in particular Article 28 thereof,

– having regard to the Commission communication of 10 February 2026 entitled ‘Action plan against cyberbullying “Safer online, stronger together“’ (COM(2026)0071),

– having regard to the Commission communication of 11 May 2022 entitled ‘A Digital Decade for children and youth: the new European strategy for a better internet for kids (BIK+)’ (COM(2022)0212),

– having regard to national legislation against cyberbullying, including Ireland’s ‘Coco’s Law’,

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

A. whereas cyberbullying is a growing and extremely worrying social phenomenon; whereas in Europe around 1 in 6 children aged 11 to 15 report having been victims of cyberbullying; whereas between 2018 and 2022 the number of adolescents being cyberbullied rose by approximately a quarter;

B. whereas cyberbullying disproportionately affects girls and young women, LGBTIQ+ youth, and children from marginalised communities; whereas structural inequalities offline are mirrored and amplified online; whereas special characteristics such as autism spectrum disorder, intellectual and developmental disorders, obesity or asthma may also lead to a higher risk of being cyberbullied;

C. whereas there is currently no commonly agreed EU or international definition of cyberbullying, which hampers coherent legal responses and cross-border victim support;

D. whereas the business model of large online platforms and their use of algorithms built on engagement-maximising recommender systems structurally contributes to the spread of harmful content, including cyberbullying;

E. whereas cyberbullying and online harassment must be understood, in many cases, as forms of gender-based violence, including digital violence against women and girls, such as online sexual harassment, the non-consensual dissemination of intimate images, coordinated hate campaigns and attacks against women in public life, and which aim to silence, exclude and undermine their democratic participation;

F. whereas cyberbullying has severe and long-lasting consequences on the mental health, well-being and development of children and adolescents, and must therefore be addressed as a public health and rights of the child issue, ensuring that children are recognised not only as users to be protected but as rights-holders entitled to safe, inclusive and empowering digital environments;

G. whereas the concentration of power in a small number of large online platforms, combined with profit-driven business models based on data extraction and attention maximisation, creates systemic incentives for the amplification of harmful, polarising and abusive content, including cyberbullying, while limiting democratic oversight and accountability;

H. whereas cyberbullying disproportionately affects individuals at the intersection of multiple forms of discrimination, including sexism, racism, LGBTIQ+ phobia and other structural inequalities, which are reproduced and intensified in digital environments;

Action plan against cyberbullying

1. Notes the Commission action plan against cyberbullying; welcomes its focus on prevention and digital literacy as effective long-term tools to combat cyberbullying; calls on the Commission and the Member States to substantially invest in age-appropriate digital education, media literacy programmes and teacher training, in order to ensure that these resources reach children in all socioeconomic contexts;

2. Calls on the Member States to establish comprehensive national anti-cyberbullying strategies developed with children, educators and civil society;

3. Calls on the Member States to ensure the provision of adequately funded, accessible and specialised public services to support victims of cyberbullying, including psychological care, legal assistance and school-based support mechanisms, paying particular attention to children and other vulnerable groups;

4. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure the meaningful participation of children and young people in the design, implementation and evaluation of policies addressing cyberbullying, in line with their rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;

5. Believes that it should be easy for victims to report cyberbullying; is not convinced of the efficiency of an online safety app, as proposed by the Commission, as it could contribute to further fragmentation of mechanisms for content moderation and reporting;

Age verification

6. Does not believe that age verification is an effective tool to prevent cyberbullying; recalls that cyberbullying is a behavioural and social phenomenon that does not only concern minors and is one that cannot be resolved by restricting access; warns that such measures create false reassurance and divert resources from effective solutions;

7. Notes with serious concern that the EU age verification app launched by the Commission President on 15 April 2026 was found to have critical security flaws within hours of its release; calls on the Commission to halt its deployment until it fully meets the highest security and privacy standards, including through privacy-preserving techniques such as zero-knowledge proofs;

8. Calls on the Commission to await the full report of the special expert panel before taking any further steps on age verification or age restrictions for social media;

Criminal law

9. Believes that the lack of a common EU definition of cyberbullying is a major obstacle to the effective application of EU legislation that could help prevent cyberbullying and ensure that action is taken to protect victims;

10. Invites the Commission to assess the need for a more harmonised approach, in order to define cyberbullying and minimum standards at EU level; reiterates its support for adding hate crime, which could cover the most severe forms of cyberbullying, to the list of EU crimes;

11. Emphasises that criminal law measures should remain a measure of last resort, and that efforts to combat cyberbullying should prioritise prevention, education, awareness-raising and restorative approaches, particularly when minors are involved;

12. Encourages Member States to develop and promote restorative justice approaches to address cyberbullying, focusing on accountability, reparation and the prevention of reoffending, while safeguarding the rights and well-being of victims;

Online platforms and the DSA

13. Underlines that the DSA already addresses many aspects of harassment and cyberbullying, in order to protect minors in particular; recalls that Article 28 DSA already obliges providers of online services to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors using their services; calls on providers to include cyberbullying bans in their terms of service and, in the absence of a common definition in criminal law, to ensure their enforcement online in accordance with Article 11 DSA;

14. Points out that the business model of online platforms, which is based on surveillance, data extraction and the maximisation of user engagement, structurally incentivises the dissemination of hateful and abusive content, including cyberbullying and gender-based violence; highlights that such models prioritise profit over users’ safety and fundamental rights, particularly affecting minors, women and marginalised groups; highlights the role of hyper-personalised recommender systems that push hate speech and down-rank less divisive content;

15. Calls on the Commission to urgently close pending enforcement cases and open investigations into systemic risks posed by recommender systems, notably those relating to gender-based violence, harm to minors and discrimination; believes cyberbullying will persist until recommender system mechanisms, and their underlying business models, are effectively addressed;

16. Calls on the Commission to introduce binding obligations on very large online platforms to ensure full transparency of recommender systems, including access to relevant data for independent researchers, civil society and public authorities, in order to assess and mitigate systemic risks linked to cyberbullying, discrimination and gender-based violence;

17. Stresses that effective enforcement of the DSA requires not only procedural compliance but also structural changes to platform design, including the obligation to assess and mitigate the harmful effects of engagement-based business models that amplify abusive content;

18. Expresses deep concern that the Commission’s ‘dialogue’ with the Trump administration on digital enforcement may put rigorous enforcement of the DSA and the Digital Markets Act at risk; recalls that the EU’s digital regulatory autonomy is non-negotiable; calls on the Commission to confirm unequivocally that enforcement of EU digital law is not subject to trade negotiations;

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