EU Targets Social Media Addictive Design With New Child Protection Rules

Brussels: The European Union is working on new rules to protect children from the addictive design features of social media platforms such as TikTok, Meta, and X, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday.

“Sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety, self-harm, addictive behaviour, cyberbullying, grooming, exploitation, suicide — risks are multiplying fast,” von der Leyen said in a speech in Copenhagen.

“These risks are the reality of the digital world. They are not accidental. They are the result of business models that treat our children’s attention as a commodity.”

Von der Leyen said the European Commission will specifically target “addictive and harmful design practices” in its upcoming Digital Fairness Act (DFA), which is expected to be proposed later this year.

The DFA will also introduce strict limits on the use of artificial intelligence in social media platforms. Von der Leyen also advocated for setting a minimum age for access to social media.

“The question is not whether young people should have access to social media, the question is whether social media should have access to young people,” she said.

The new regulation will strengthen and expand the Digital Services Act (DSA), which already requires large platforms to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content.

Under these rules, the Commission is already investigating TikTok, X, and Meta Platforms’ Instagram and Facebook.

“We are taking action against TikTok and its addictive design — endless scrolling, autoplay, and push notifications. The same applies to Meta, because we believe Instagram and Facebook are failing to enforce their own minimum age of 13,” von der Leyen said.

The Commission has also opened proceedings against X over its use of the Grok artificial intelligence tool in creating sexual images of women and children.

Spokespeople for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.