During the current plenary session of the European Parliament, Law and Justice MEPs—Kosma Złotowski, Piotr Müller, and Małgorzata Gosiewska—spoke in the debate on the protection of children and young people in the digital environment. In their remarks, they emphasized the need for effective protection of the youngest members of society, while opposing attempts to excessively centralize and bureaucratize actions at the European Union level.
Kosma Złotowski noted that children—who are the “joy, pride, and future” of societies—require special protection, including in the digital world. He compared the internet to a forest: a place offering many opportunities, but also full of dangers. Złotowski pointed out that, just as when navigating a forest, education, awareness of the dangers, and the responsibility of parents and guardians are key when it comes to the Internet. He criticized the idea of imposing top-down EU bans on children’s use of social media, calling them a violation of the principle of subsidiarity.
“Such decisions should be made as close to the citizens as possible, at the national level. Let’s teach our children how to use technology wisely and safely,” said the MEP.
Piotr Müller emphasized that ensuring the safety of children online is one of the most important political challenges of our time. He agreed that social media poses numerous risks, including the risk of addiction, but strongly opposed proposals to introduce broad age verification, which, in his view, would in practice lay the groundwork for verifying the identities of internet users. “It is up to parents to decide what content their children have access to,” Müller emphasized.
He called on the European Commission to develop technical solutions that would require online platforms to create effective parental control tools, enabling parents to effectively protect their children from unwanted content.
“We cannot play around with restricting anonymity on the Internet,” he added.
Małgorzata Gosiewska drew attention to negative phenomena present online, such as hate speech, hate propaganda, content that disrupts children’s development, and “the promotion of destructive ideologies.” She emphasized that the Internet can be a place where the family and fundamental social values come under attack.
The PiS MEP called for the introduction of protective measures to restrict access to harmful content for children under the age of 15, while also emphasizing the crucial role of adult awareness and responsibility. “It is adults—not algorithms—who are the first line of defense,” she said.
In her speech, she also referred to the “shameful attacks on children” during the recent presidential campaign in Poland, pointing to the need to eliminate such practices from public life. In this context, she highlighted the initiative of Poland’s First Lady, Marta Nawrocka, who established a foundation to protect children from online violence and strengthen their digital resilience.
“Systematic protection of children online—yes, but at the national level,” the MEP concluded.
PiS MEPs unanimously emphasized that measures to ensure children’s online safety must be effective while also respecting the competences of member states and the fundamental rights of internet users.
