Youth-Driven Social Media Design: Safe, Inclusive, and Publicly-Owned Social Media

This grant seeks proposals for the co-creation, design, and first-stage implementation of a Fediverse-based or ATProtocol-based social media platform specifically for young EU citizens. The project is focused on improving user well-being, privacy, inclusivity, and mental health, involving youths from at least eight diverse EU Member States and especially including those with disabilities or neurodevelopmental conditions. The project aims for a strong impact on the decentralized social media ecosystem, providing lessons for the wider community, and making publicly available open-source contributions. Key expected impacts include sustainability of results, strong uptake strategies, and new insights about young people's online needs, as well as market research and public reporting on decentralized alternatives to commercial social media.

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Agency	PPPA (EU)
Region	EU
Country	N/A
Legal form	Company, NGO, Government organization, Other
Start date	30 Jul 2026
End date	6 Oct 2026
Max funding	Up to 1,480,000 EUR
Budget	1,480,000 EUR for the 2026 call
Coverage	The maximum contribution per grant is 1,480,000 EUR.

Grant application conditions

Admissibility conditions	Proposal page limit and layout as described in section 5 of the call document and in Part B of the Application Form.
Eligible countries	Described in section 6 of the call document.
Other eligibility conditions	Described in section 6 of the call document.
Financial and operational capacity	Requirements as described in section 7 of the call document.
Evaluation and award	Submission and evaluation processes as described in section 8 of the call document and the Online Manual. Award criteria, scoring and thresholds described in section 9 of the call document. Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement described in section 4 of the call document.
Legal and financial set-up of the grants	Described in section 10 of the call document.
Youth involvement	Proposals must co-create with youth participants from at least eight EU Member States, with geographic and social diversity, gender balance, and inclusion of disabled and neurodivergent young people.
Prototype requirement	Create at least one functioning prototype or upgrade at least two existing services based on ActivityPub or ATProtocol, including features for user safety, mental health, and inclusivity.
Documentation	https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/PPPA-2026-YOUTH-SOCIAL-MEDIA-DESIGN

Eligible expenses

Evaluation criteria

Business exclusions

Reporting

Application process

Application requirements