EU Kids Online 2026 survey launched at Irish EU Presidency Conference on Online Safety
Guardii Analysis
A major pan-European research study surveying 28,465 children aged 10 to 16 across 19 countries was released at the Irish EU Presidency Conference on Online Safety for Children and Young People in Dublin on 10 September 2026. The EU Kids Online 2026 survey examines children's internet access, online activities, digital skills, generative AI use, perceptions of online safety, exposure to harmful content, and experiences of parental and school regulation. Notably, both parents and children expressed scepticism about the effectiveness of blanket social-media bans, with 43 percent of parents and a majority of children agreeing that young people would find ways to circumvent such restrictions.
A detection system built around behavioural threat patterns rather than age gates addresses the operational gap this research exposes. Guardii's AI detection modules for grooming, sextortion, child sexual abuse material including AI-generated content, cyberbullying, and acute-distress signals work in real time across Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, Roblox and other platforms, identifying escalation, sustained targeting and coercion in direct-message exchanges without requiring every user to prove their age or locking compliant users out entirely. Where blanket measures restrict access and displace risk to unmonitored channels, targeted detection intercepts the harm itself at the point of contact, surfacing a child in crisis to a parent, school or professional and enabling rapid escalation to the right authority in an emergency.