{"id":877,"date":"2026-07-08T17:25:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socialmediaban.lisboncouncil.net\/blog\/?p=877"},"modified":"2026-07-08T17:53:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:53:39","slug":"beyond-bans-why-online-safety-for-lgbtqi-youth-must-be-built-on-agency-and-empowerment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/socialmediaban.lisboncouncil.net\/blog\/beyond-bans-why-online-safety-for-lgbtqi-youth-must-be-built-on-agency-and-empowerment\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Bans: Why Online Safety for LGBTQI Youth Must Be Built on Agency and Empowerment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As European policymakers prepare the next phase of children\u2019s online safety policy, the debate is too often framed as a choice between two unsatisfactory options: leave young people exposed to harmful digital environments or restrict their access altogether. Both options pose problems.

LGBTQI young people need safety online. They also need connection, information, privacy, self-expression, community and participation. A rights-based approach must hold these needs together. The real question is not whether children and young people should be protected online. They should. The question is whether the European Union will address the systems that make digital spaces unsafe, or whether it will simply make young people, especially marginalised young people, pay the price for platforms that are broken by design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This distinction matters. The Lisbon Council\u2019s Evidence Hub chart on adolescents\u2019 reasons for using social media, based on the 2026 Flash Eurobarometer on the impact of excessive screen time and social media on young people\u2019s mental health, shows that young people\u2019s digital lives cannot be reduced to passive scrolling or a search for popularity. Staying in contact with friends and family is one of the primary reasons why most young people use social media. Social media is not only a product that young people consume, it is also a social environment most people inhabit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Access to social media is key to most LGBTQI young people. There is often a delicate period between a young person becoming self-aware and being able to come out safely. During that time, their offline environment may not provide the language, affirmation or support they need. A young person may live in a rural area without a visible LGBTQI community. They may be in a school where bullying and discrimination based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics is normalised. They may belong to a family or community where disclosure could lead (or has led) to rejection, violence or homelessness. In such contexts, digital spaces can be the first place where a young person realises they are not alone. This was one of the key points IGLYO brought to the Lisbon Council High-Level Roundtable on \u2018The Web Young People Want: Building a Digital Future on Agency, not Anxiety<\/a>, where the discussion was grounded in the principle of \u201cnothing about us, without us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This does not mean online spaces are automatically safe. LGBTQI young people face cyberbullying, hate speech, harassment, outing, grooming, disinformation, body shaming, and algorithmic exposure to hostile content. In IGLYO\u2019s response to the European Action Plan Against Cyberbullying, IGLYO mentions that LGBTQI children and young people face disproportionately high levels of cyberbullying, harassment and exclusion, and are increasingly targeted in online discourse and hate, including by high-level political actors. At the same time, IGLYO also underlines that digital spaces are central to young people\u2019s lives: places to learn, access information, connect with peers and participate in public life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem, therefore, is not simply that young people are online. The problem is that too many platforms are designed and governed in ways that make harm predictable. For many young people facing multiple (and intersecting) levels of marginalisation, digital platforms are among the most accessible spaces for self-expression, advocacy and community-building. This is a place where many of us come to meet others like us. Yet those same spaces can become tools of control when marginalised voices are shadow-banned, silenced or treated as violations of \u201ccommunity guidelines,\u201d while racist, colonial, LGBTQI-phobic (especially transphobic) and sexist narratives remain unchecked (and sometimes even fostered).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This should be central to the European debate. This should be at the core of any implementation discussions within the European Union. Online safety cannot only mean removing \u201cinappropriate\u201d content or keeping young people away from risk. For LGBTQI, racialised, migrant, disabled and many other marginalised youth, unsafety also looks like being pushed out of public digital spaces; having educational content removed; being unable to report harassment effectively; being algorithmically fed hostile narratives; or being forced to prove one\u2019s age or identity through intrusive systems that create new privacy risks. In a moment when affirmative content is being banned from schools, social media is not only a place where young people seek information, but potentially the only source of information accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why an overall ban is not going to be the most useful tool for many of our communities. Such bans may be introduced with the best of intentions and may appear protective, but they can end up cutting off those who rely on digital spaces the most. A young person with supportive parents, a safe school environment or local youth services may have alternatives. And a world where all these alternatives exist is certainly better. But this is unfortunately not the world we live in now. A trans teenager in an isolated town, an intersex young person seeking confidential information, or a queer migrant young person looking for community in their own language may not. The solution lies in addressing the root causes of harm: the design and business model of platforms, not the exclusion of young people from digital life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Evidence Hub\u2019s chart on civic and political participation reinforces this point. Eurostat 2025 data shows that almost 25% of EU youth use digital platforms for civic or political participation, around four percentage points higher than the general population. In Slovenia, almost half of young people use the internet for political expression. These figures challenge the idea that digital platforms are peripheral to democratic life; for many young people, they are part of the public square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is also how youth organisations work. Across Europe, LGBTQI youth organisations use digital platforms to reach young people, share safety information, advertise services, mobilise campaigns, connect isolated individuals to peer support and build transnational communities. During moments of crisis, digital outreach may be the only realistic way to reach young people quickly, discreetly and safely. If policy restricts access without ensuring alternative routes to information and support, it may unintentionally weaken the very networks that help protect young people. We rely on social media platforms to do our work. This is the place where our communities see us and hear from us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A more effective approach would start from three principles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, Europe must regulate for safety by design. The burden cannot be placed primarily on children to avoid harm, or on parents and carers to monitor every interaction. Platforms should be required to design environments that are safer for minors from the outset: privacy-protective default settings, limits on unwanted contact from strangers, meaningful reporting and redress systems, stronger action against identity-based harassment, and restrictions on addictive or manipulative design features such as infinite scroll. Safety must also include safeguards against the wrongful removal or downranking of legitimate LGBTQI educational and community content.
Second, digital literacy must be practical, inclusive and rights-based, and must be made compulsory in schools. Young people need more than warnings and prohibitions. They need algorithmic awareness, privacy skills, media literacy, tools to recognise manipulation and deepfakes, and clear information on where to seek support when they experience harm. I heard from an actress in Spain a few weeks ago that she was not worried about young people in the digital space as much as she was about older people, because young people are native to this environment. And I agree with that. However, digital literacy is key to understanding how the environment is built. For LGBTQI young people, this must include access to inclusive, age-appropriate, and trustworthy information, as well as pathways to youth-led and community-based organisations.
Third, online safety policy must invest in offline safety too. Young people do not spend time online simply because screens exist. They also go online because safe, accessible, affordable and affirming physical spaces are too often missing. Funding youth groups and organisations, inclusive education, community services and mental health support is therefore not separate from online safety policy. It is one of its core elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, as in any other area of policymaking, young people must be involved as co-designers of the digital environments and policies that shape their lives. Youth participation cannot be limited to panels, advisory groups or symbolic consultation if final decisions remain untouched by young people\u2019s expertise. It cannot, and should not, be tokenistic. Too often, debates about online safety are still dominated by adults, while young people themselves are not placed at the centre of discussions about their own needs, rights and futures.

In summary, the goal should not be to choose between safety and participation. A rights-based approach must deliver both. The safest internet for children and young people is one where they can learn, connect, organise, and express themselves in environments designed around their dignity, privacy, wellbeing and agency. Crucially, it is also one they are empowered to help build.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

R\u00fa \u00c1vila Rodr\u00edguez is Deputy Executive Director at IGLYO, The International LGBTQI Youth and Student Organisation. In this role, they lead IGLYO\u2019s advocacy and research work on LGBTQI youth rights across Europe, with a particular focus on inclusive education, online safety, mental health, hate speech and youth participation. Their work engages with European institutions, the Council of Europe, UNESCO and other international stakeholders to ensure that policies affecting LGBTQI young people are grounded in their lived realities, rights and agency.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As European policymakers prepare the next phase of children\u2019s online safety policy, the debate is too often framed as a choice between two unsatisfactory options: leave young people exposed to harmful digital environments or restrict their access altogether. Both options pose problems. LGBTQI young people need safety online. 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