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Data protection for children and teenagers: Consent and rights

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tagsglossar, recht, datenschutz

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Data protection for children and teenagers: Consent and rights

In short: Minors also have full data protection rights; age limits apply to consent to online services, and providers must protect children especially.

In more detail: The GDPR recognises that children can assess risks less well and demands special protection. For children’s use of online services an age limit for consent applies. This is general information and not legal advice; laws change and individual cases can differ. For concrete problems counselling (consumer advice, lawyer, data protection authority) helps.

In Depth

Art. 8 GDPR: for information society services offered directly to a child (networks, apps, games) consent is effective from 16 years; member states may lower the limit to 13 years. In Germany 16 years applies: below that the consent must be given or approved by the parents. Other legal bases (contract, legitimate interest) remain possible but require a strict balancing of interests. Independently of this, young people can conclude contracts only with parents’ consent (pocket-money rule).

Rights of young people

Every person, also a minor, has rights to access, rectification, erasure, restriction, data portability and objection. The right to be forgotten carries particular weight for data published as a child. In case of violations one can turn to the data protection supervisory authority (complaint free of charge). Adults may exercise rights on behalf as long as the child cannot decide alone; with growing capacity for insight young people decide increasingly themselves.

Providers’ duties

  • Understandable information in child-friendly language.
  • Data minimisation, privacy-friendly defaults (privacy by default).
  • No profiling for advertising towards children where it violates their interests (the DSA prohibits personalised advertising based on profiling to minors).
  • Age verification with proportionate means.
  • Shared location data, contact by strangers and chats are especially delicate.

Everyday tips

Use privacy settings (private profile, restricted visibility), reveal little personal information (address, school, location), post photos of others only with permission, protect passwords, have accounts deleted that you no longer need. Parents: be a role model, share photos of children with restraint (right to one’s own image, “sharenting”), conversations instead of bans. Help: klicksafe.de, consumer advice, data protection authorities.

See also: Data subject rights under the GDPR, Consent under the GDPR, Right to one’s own image