Kids now need email earlier than ever. School apps, games, and messaging tools all ask for an email address long before a child understands what privacy is or how their data may be misused.
Already, 43% of children under 18 have their own personal email address, according to a recent Proton survey. And for many people, that childhood inbox becomes the one they carry into adulthood — their first and most enduring digital marker.
When parents default to the email service they already use, a child’s first inbox often starts inside Big Tech systems like Gmail or Microsoft Outlook, built for advertising and data collection. Among children who already have an email address, 74% use Gmail.
These systems assume data should be collected first and protected later, even when the user is a child. And because most people keep the same email for years, sometimes decades, that first inbox becomes the foundation of their online identity, shaping what’s tracked, what’s inferred, and how they’re categorized.
There’s a way to push back against that assumption and give the next generation a beginning online that doesn’t start with being watched. Proton Mail now lets parents reserve a private email address for their children, offering a more protected start online through the Born Private campaign.
Email is your child’s digital identity
Mainstream email services routinely insert tracking pixels into messages, collect metadata, analyze behavior, and use inbox activity to refine advertising systems or train AI models.
For adults, this is worrying enough. For children, it means their early interests, choices, and even mistakes feed Big Tech’s algorithms before they’re old enough to understand what’s happening.
Because these tech companies are based in the United States, the data they collect can fall under US surveillance laws that allow government access without a warrant, no matter where you live. As a result, your child’s long-lasting digital records can be collected, processed, and shared within a system of weak privacy protections and broad surveillance powers.
Doing nothing hands control of your child’s digital identity to companies built to extract revenue from it.
Proton Mail offers a safer starting point
Proton Mail is built on a simple belief: Privacy is a fundamental right, not a tradeoff. Your inbox — and your child’s — should protect private information by default, not scan it or profit from it.
Proton Mail accounts use end-to-end and zero-access encryption, as well as advanced phishing and spam protections. That means:
- Proton can’t read or scan your messages
- Your child’s interests aren’t turned into marketing data
- Threats and annoyances are stopped before they reach you
Unlike Gmail, Proton’s code is open source, so anyone can verify that our apps do what we say. And because Proton is based in Switzerland, your family’s data is protected by some of the strongest privacy laws — from warrantless surveillance and unrestricted data sharing.
Choosing Proton means choosing a private European alternative to Big Tech platforms built around advertising and large-scale data collection.
A private inbox they can grow into
You prepare them for the real world. Now prepare them for the digital one.
You pack their lunch, double-knot their shoes, and remind them to look both ways when they cross the street. Reserving their first private inbox is another small way to set them up for a safer future, long before they ever log in.
To help families give their children a better beginning online, Proton Mail now lets parents reserve a private email address long before their child needs it.
Reserving your child’s email address may seem like a small, practical act, but it’s also a way to opt out of a Big Tech system where surveillance is the default.
Here’s how it works:
- Parents often reserve email addresses so their child can keep the name they want, and Proton lets them do that without giving up privacy.
- Proton Mail locks and preserves it for up to 15 years, and it will not be automatically deactivated for being dormant.
- The inbox stays completely sealed — no data, no activity logs, no profiling.
- When your child is ready, you use a secure voucher to activate their email.
- If the voucher is misplaced, you can easily request a replacement.
The result is a clean, untouched inbox that begins with privacy instead of surveillance. This is a small but meaningful way to give children more control over their digital future.
To prevent abuse or fraud, we ask for a small donation, starting at $1. This supports the Proton Foundation’s work defending digital privacy globally and helps to protect the next generation.
Born Private: A better beginning for the next generation
Born Private is Proton’s commitment to making privacy the default again. Protecting your child’s inbox is part of that mission. Giving children a private email identity from the start extends it to the next generation.
Every digital life begins somewhere. With a reserved private email address for your child, that beginning can finally respect the privacy every child deserves.
