Kuwait city: The European Parliament called on Thursday for swift implementation of the Digital Services Act and the prohibition of harmful practices such as addictive design and gambling-like mechanisms in order to protect minors online.
According to Kuwait News Agency, this came after members of the Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee adopted a report with 32 votes in favor, five against, and nine abstentions, in which they expressed concern over major digital platforms’ failure to adequately protect minors and warned of risks related to addiction, mental health, and exposure to illegal or harmful content.
The MEPs expressed support for the European Commission’s efforts to develop privacy-preserving age verification systems, while emphasizing that such measures must respect children’s rights and privacy and do not absolve platforms of their responsibility to design services that are safe for children.
The report proposed an EU-wide digital minimum age of 16 for access to social media, video-sharing platforms, and AI-powered services, unless authorized by parents, with a minimum age of 13 for access to any social media.
The MEPs urged the Commission to fully use its powers under the Digital Services Act, including imposing fines or banning non-compliant sites and applications that endanger minors. They also called on the Commission to consider personal liability for senior management in cases of serious and persistent breaches of minor protection, to ban engagement-based recommendation algorithms for minors, disable the most addictive design features by default, and ensure that recommendation systems do not present content to minors based on profiling.
Moreover, they called for a ban on gambling-like mechanisms such as “loot boxes,” prevent platforms from monetizing or providing material incentives for minors acting as influencers, address ethical and legal challenges arising from AI-powered apps that create manipulated images without consent, and strictly enforce AI Act rules against manipulative chatbots.
A new Eurobarometer survey published today showed that young people use digital media differently from previous generations, increasingly relying on digital sources and influencer content, while challenges related to misinformation and harmful content are part of their social media behavior.
The Parliament is scheduled to vote on its recommendations to enhance minors’ online safety during the plenary session set for the end of November.