Digital vulnerability exposed: is anyone still safe online?
Digitalisation affects us all, but in different ways. A new project involving four research consortia has been established to gain a clearer understanding of digital vulnerability. We spoke with the projectlead Gianclaudio Malgieri (eLaw) about the project.
Digital technologies affect how people receive care, how young people grow up, and how citizens interact with public authorities. But the impact is not the same for everyone. In the research programme VaROS (funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO)), four research consortia are joining forces to study digital vulnerability and resilience and translate the findings into specific tools for policymakers and government organisations. Among those the project RESOCIAL, led by Malgieri as projectlead. ‘Too often, digitalisation is discussed in abstract terms, as if technology affects everyone in the same way. VaROS starts from the opposite premise: the impact of digitalisation depends on people’s social position, age, health, resources, dependencies and opportunities,’ Malgieri explains.
More than just screen time
So, what does digital vulnerability look like in practice? The example of young people on social media illustrates the complexity. ‘The issue is not simply “too much screen time”. Digital vulnerability can emerge when platform design encourages dependency, exposes users to manipulation, discrimination, online violence or privacy harms, or when some users have fewer social, economic or cognitive resources to protect themselves or seek help.’
Similar dynamics can arise in other contexts. Digital care technologies, for example, could support older adults and help them live independently, but they can also exclude people, increase dependency or create new risks if they are not designed around real human needs. Neurodiverse young people (with e.g. forms of autism or ADHD) might benefit from digital tools, but they could also face environments that are not sufficiently adapted to their capacities and preferences.
That is why ‘resilience’ has a specific meaning within VaROS. ‘Resilience should not mean telling citizens to simply adapt to technology,’ the researcher says. ‘It means creating the social, legal and institutional conditions that allow people to benefit from digitalisation without being harmed by it. In other words, the question is not only how citizens can become more resilient, but also how governments, platforms and public institutions can become more responsible.’
Synthesis instead of silos
In this respect, VaROS deliberately departs from the starting point of most research programmes. Instead of launching a new, stand‑alone project, it builds on knowledge that has already been developed by four consortia. These projects have looked at different but connected contexts: social media platforms, digital care and housing for older adults, young people’s online and offline environments, and digital interventions for young people whose brain works differently compared to the statistical average (neurodiverse).
‘The biggest advantage is that VaROS brings together and synthesises the knowledge of four consortia,’ Malgieri says. ‘Each project has developed clear expertise in its own domain. By joining forces, we can identify common patterns, shared concepts, policy gaps, joint recommendations etc. that would remain less visible if each project stayed in its own “silo”.’ The aim should be more than a collection of insights: a coherent framework and practical policy guidance for government, regulators, public services and civil society.
From fragmentation to policy
In the next two years, VaROS aims to develop an integrative framework on digital vulnerability and resilience, a policy roadmap, and tools for more bias-aware and vulnerability-sensitive policymaking. The researchers want to provide Dutch and European institutions with concrete guidance for reducing digital risks.
The goal is clear: help policymakers progress from general concerns about digital risks to informed and inclusive policy choices. ‘That means asking not only what technology can do, but what it does to people in different situations, and how policy can better protect equal opportunities, health, security, participation and fundamental rights.’
A total of €1.4 million has been made available for VaROS through the NWA Synergy ‘Programme Vulnerability and Resilience in an Online Society’. The project will start in August 2026 and will run for two years. More information is available via this link.