This paper reports on a policy roundtable of 17 experts across child rights, privacy and research, exploring proposals for reforms to privacy legislation prohibiting the targeting of children except where it is in children’s best interests. Three key questions about the proposed reforms provoked the discussion:

1. ​​How do we make sense of the best interests principle in a digital context?
2. Targeting children in the Privacy Act: what does this mean?
3. European approaches to targeting children: are they in their best interests?

Key findings

• There is widespread support for the introduction of the best interests principle into privacy law, including prohibiting targeting unless it is in children’s best interests. However, to meaningfully realise this will require clear guidance and assessments regarding what best interests mean in practice.
• These guidelines and assessments need to consider the instance of targeting, as well as the data processing, profiling and automated decision-making that happens during the process of targeting.
• The development of these tools should occur in consultation with experts, including professionals and children.
• These tools need to outline that consent alone is not adequate for determining best interests, nor are broad declarations about not causing evidenced harm.
• These tools need to require platforms to consider how to advance children’s rights holistically, including their right to access the digital world.