Digital skills

Strategy

Empowering people for a safe and self-determined digital world

Digital participation means more than just the internet access we provide (more on this in the chapter Network quality and coverage). It also requires knowledge, security, and trust. That’s why we promote digital skills in all age groups and focus on prevention, education – for example, against cyberbullying or disinformation – and accessible services for children and young people, older people, people with a migration background, and people with special needs. At the same time, we prioritise data protection and security – through transparent communication, tools for controlling personal data, and the implementation of clearly defined corporate standards (more information on the latter can be found in the chapter Data protection and information security). In this way, we contribute to a digital world that offers opportunities and minimises risks.

Policies

Principles for a safe, inclusive and fair digital life

Our Responsible Business Principles commit us to truthful information, education, awareness-raising, and inclusion. Our Declaration of Principles on Respecting Human Rights, our Human Rights Policy, and our Data Privacy Commitment provide a framework for data protection and privacy, as well as for the protection of children and young people in the digital sphere. Our Policy for Ethically Responsible Communication defines binding principles for content and channels and takes into account particularly vulnerable groups such as children and young people. With our Commitment to Children’s Rights, we establish special due diligence obligations in our dealings with young consumers. Furthermore, our AI Code of Conduct places people at the heart of technological progress. We comply with all legal requirements for youth media protection and have appointed a Youth Protection Officer who oversees and monitors the implementation of these requirements. We have also committed ourselves to the Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR) Code. You can read more about youth media protection under Youth Media Protection.

Targets

The target is to strengthen digital skills across all age groups, thereby fostering an informed, resilient, and democratic society. To this end, we support responsible media use and a sound understanding of democracy, while addressing risks such as cyberbullying, hate speech, and disinformation. We evaluate the impact of our programmes every six months based on reach, feedback, and usage – even without formal quantitative targets.

Performance

How we measure our progress

Through various measures within the framework of our social programmes, we reached approx. 56 million people in 2025 (2024: 2.9 million).

Actions

Seize digital opportunities, understand risks

Media and democratic literacy: We offer free educational programmes for all age groups to promote media literacy, equal opportunities, and social cohesion. Parents, teachers, students, senior citizens, and employees benefit from training, materials, and learning formats for the safe use of digital media and artificial intelligence, as well as for strengthening media and democratic literacy. For young people, we combine technical and educational measures such as child protection tools, educational programmes, and a certified youth protection programme for O₂ TV. With our youth programme WAKE UP!, we strengthen digital resilience and raise awareness of issues such as cyberbullying, disinformation, and responsible media use.

Digital inclusion for seniors: Since 2012, our “Digitally Mobile in Old Age” programme has systematically promoted basic digital skills for people aged 60 and over, as well as the safe use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence. Updated training formats, video tutorials, and free SIM cards facilitate access and specifically raise awareness of online security risks such as phishing, identity theft, disinformation, and digital fraud.

In 2025, our focus was particularly on the issue of loneliness – linked to questions about closeness, friendship, and the influence of digital technologies and AI on social relationships. Our representative study, “Digitally Connected, but Lonely in Everyday Life,” from December 2025, showed that young adults in particular feel lonely significantly more often than older generations and received widespread media attention.

At the same time, it became clear that older people face particular challenges in their digital lives. Building on this, we have developed formats specifically for older target groups that strengthen basic digital skills and promote safety in the digital space. These formats focus on areas where digital technologies can support orientation, safety, and social interaction without replacing human relationships. These formats include, among others:

• A digital glossary for the understandable classification of terms related to AI and the digital world.
• the podcast “AI against loneliness” with experts such as Dr. Aike Horstmann
• Cybersecurity training to raise awareness of phishing, fraud and the so-called “grandparent scam”.
• Interactive formats such as digital game sessions on Valentine’s Day or VR experience courses in the O₂ Tower Munich.
• as well as intergenerational dialogues on issues of responsible use of AI and dealing with risks such as disinformation.

All information about our formats can be found online here.

Inclusion for people with a migration background: Our brands AY YILDIZ and Ortel Mobile offer multilingual service, prepaid plans without a contract, attractive data packages, and affordable per-minute rates to international landline and mobile networks, as well as intuitive usability, to provide immigrants with low-threshold and non-discriminatory access to mobile communication in Germany. Partners such as Lebara and Lyca mobile also use our mobile network to implement specific offers for these customers.

Access for the deaf: A dedicated O₂ service hotline for hearing-impaired customers enables barrier-free and inclusive customer service. In this way, we promote the independent use of our services.

Further measures and more detailed information on initiatives can also be found here.

Business value

Digital responsibility for stable markets and trust

We are investing in a high-performance network and digital services to promote social inclusion, economic development, and stable digital markets. Digital education is a key component of our ESG strategy: it strengthens digital skills and raises awareness about risks such as violence, bullying, and disinformation.

By expanding our network and offering affordable digital services, we are helping to reduce barriers to access – especially in rural areas and for people with disabilities or low income.

Educational initiatives promote the responsible handling of information, can reduce risks such as fraud or cybercrime, and create reliable framework conditions for sustainable economic activity.

Next steps

Timetable until 2040

We will intensify our educational initiatives such as WAKE UP! and Digital Mobility in Old Age and expand collaborations to promote media literacy and digital participation. By 2040, we aim to specifically reach particularly disadvantaged and vulnerable people and further strengthen their digital resilience.