The group of fifty experts convened by the Ministry of Youth and Children to improve the protection of minors in the digital realm, chaired by Ana Caballero, had its first meeting on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Its job is to develop a roadmap that, in the coming months, will be the basis for the subsequent report on the protection of minors, adolescents and young people in the digital environment. Special interest will be placed on phenomena such as cyberbullying, the effect of social media on adolescent mental health or the access to extreme content.
Ana Caballero, vice president of the European Association for Digital Transition (EADT), has been named president of this working group. “This is recognition of the work done by the Association and, especially, the advocacy for the State Pact to protect minors in the digital realm,” she noted.
The proposal for a State Pact was promoted by the EADT along with the Fundación Anar, Save The Children, Dale Una Vuelta, iCMedia and Unicef España. Moreover, it has institutional support from four agencies – the Spanish Data Protection Agency, the Attorney General’s Office, InJuve and the National Commission on Markets and Competition – and backing from more than 190 entities, among them the Asociación Española de Fundaciones, FAD Juventud, the Fundación Atresmedia, Fundación Instituto Hermés and the Fundación Mujeres.
“The State Pact is consensus and specific measures”, explained Caballero. “I’m convinced we will strive to maintain this consensus in the working group, and we will also remain firm in the need for regulation, for concrete measures”.
Ana Caballero emphasised the importance of the social fabric on this journey. “Businesses also have a role, of course, and we believe they should be heard in the Commission on Youth and Children in the congress, with complete transparency. We have already made a formal request to the presidency of this Commission [held by MP Jordi Salvador of ERC] to take civil society entities very much into account in their agenda of hearings for the legislative work”.
Who is Ana Caballero
Ana Caballero is a lawyer specialised in technology and an expert in digital transition. She also works as a data protection officer in various scientific associations and has more than 20 years of professional experience forming part of diverse legal teams. Additionally, she has been a professor of Constitutional Law and Communication Law at the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija.
Caballero is currently the president of the Section on Infancy and Adolescence at the Madrid Bar Association and vice president of the European Association for Digital Transition where, moreover, she leads the line of work focused on minors and adolescents in the digital transition. She has been the main advocate for the State Pact in defence of minors in the digital realm.
