Likely to be Accessed and the Children's Code

The Children’s Online Privacy Code will establish a set of guidelines to improve children’s privacy and will apply to social media services, relevant electronic services and designated internet services where they are likely to be accessed by children. This briefing paper explores a discussion held by 13 experts from academia and civil society in July 2025 around how the ‘likely to be accessed’ standard might be operationalised in the Code.

It recommends that:

• The development of the ’likely to be accessed standard’ should take a child rights based approach, and ensure that as much as possible, coverage matches the online services that children and young people use
• Any ‘thresholds’ included would consider children’s rights as a priority and risks to their privacy if not met. Some existing understandings of ‘likely’ might create an expectation of a simple numeric threshold, and therefore not offer appropriate protections for rights
• The understanding of what ‘use by a child’ is should be expanded beyond the obvious situation where a child has actively chosen to use a service. Where a service uses a child’s data, children should also be considered users of a service
• Frameworks for LTBA determinations could draw from the UK’s AADC and Irish Fundamentals, and the evidence standards outlined in these jurisdictions.