Protecting minors online: is a social media ban the answer?
30 June 26
Olha Hruba
As part of its 40th anniversary conference in Brussels on 23 June 2026, Cullen International hosted a panel discussion on protecting minors online. The discussion brought together high-level representatives from national regulators and the European Commission to debate one of the most politically sensitive questions in online safety: should children be banned from social media?
Protecting minors online: is a social media ban the answer?
30 June 26
Olha Hruba
As part of its 40th anniversary conference in Brussels on 23 June 2026, Cullen International hosted a panel discussion on protecting minors online. The discussion brought together high-level representatives from national regulators and the European Commission to debate one of the most politically sensitive questions in online safety: should children be banned from social media?
EU Digital & Media Weekly Report
21 June 26
Visiola Pula
This edition features news about an in-depth analysis by Cullen International on the proposed Cloud and AI Development Act by the European Commission; debates on achieving EU digital sovereignty and child protection online in the European Parliament; the endorsement by the European Parliament of the provisional agreement on the AI Omnibus; an open-source strategy presented by the Commission; and a ruling from the Court of Justice of the EU on age verification for porn sites established in other member states. It also lists events taking place this week. The next edition of this report will be exceptionally published in two weeks’ time.
EU promotes open source as a tool to overcome dependency on non-EU proprietary solutions
18 June 26
Miljana Todorovic
As part of the European Commission’s tech sovereignty package, the open-source strategy combines support for the development of open-source solutions with measures to increase their uptake across the public and private sectors. For example, the strategy envisages support for public authorities in incorporating open-source solutions into software procurement procedures and promotes the further development of “open-source stewardship” under the Cyber Resilience Act.
Europe’s technological dependencies at the heart of sovereignty debate in European Parliament
17 June 26
Marianna Mattera
The debate showed broad support among the mainstream political groups for strengthening Europe's technological autonomy in response to growing geopolitical risks and digital dependencies. While there was broad agreement on the need to invest in European AI, cloud and semiconductor capabilities, members of the European Parliament shared divergent opinions on how sovereignty should be achieved.
Cloud and AI Development Act: analysis of EU-wide assessment framework for cloud and AI sovereignty
15 June 26
Elisar Bashir
The CADA proposal would specify the conditions that EU and national public sector bodies should use in public procurement procedures for the provision of cloud computing services (CCS). The legislative proposal would also determine the criteria for the recognition of trusted CCS across four assurance levels for public sector activities that are critical to the preservation of public order (e.g. law enforcement, NIS2 sectors such as health and transport).