Renew Europe calls for EU crackdown on addictive design to protect young people online
MEPs from Renew Europe want the Commission to curb ‘addictive design’, mandate child-safe defaults and age verification mechanisms as evidence links heavy social media use to poor adolescent mental health.
Renew Europe, a political group in the European Parliament, has called on the European Commission to take stronger action against manipulative and addictive features on digital platforms. The group wants EU laws such as the Digital Services Act (DSA), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the AI Act to be used to protect young people from harmful online design practices.
The appeal follows new research from the Commission’s Joint Research Centre showing that adolescents across Europe are spending increasing amounts of time on social media, with growing concerns about mental health impacts.
Momentum for stronger regulation is growing across the EU. Digital ministers from the member states recently endorsed the Jutland Declaration on child safety online, committing to tougher standards for social media platforms. The move also builds on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s recent State of the Union address, where she called for stricter limits on children’s use of social networks.
Renew Europe argues that current rules are not sufficient to protect minors from dark patterns—design tricks that keep users online longer or encourage compulsive scrolling. The group is calling for new requirements, including mandatory child-safe defaults: disabling night-time notifications, turning off autoplay features, banning screenshots of minors’ content, and removing filters that may promote body-image anxiety.
In addition, the group supports introducing stronger, privacy-friendly age verification tools and more frequent updates to DSA guidelines to reflect emerging risks. It also wants national Digital Services Coordinators, who enforce the DSA, to be given greater powers to act against non-compliant platforms.
Further measures may be added through the Digital Fairness Act, a new legislative proposal currently under public consultation until 24 October 2025. This act would target addictive platform design and deceptive influencer marketing practices, expanding the EU’s digital consumer protection framework.
Together, these efforts reflect a growing political push in Brussels to make online environments safer and healthier for children and teenagers, ensuring that digital innovation does not come at the cost of mental well-being.
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