Sittings · Document

DRAFT REPORT (2025/2081(INI)) 2025-09-10

On the impact of social media and the online environment on young people

Committee on Culture and Education · Rapporteur: Sandro Ruotolo

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A draft report by Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education on how social media and the online environment affect young people. It calls for a unified EU strategy combining safety-by-design, algorithmic transparency, privacy-first age assurance, digital literacy, participatory governance and evidence-based evaluation. It asks the Commission to ensure consistency across the GDPR, the AVMSD, the Digital Services Act and the Artificial Intelligence Act, and the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act, and to use the next AVMSD revision to extend rules on advertising transparency and protection of minors to major video-sharing platforms and influencers. It calls for privacy-respecting age verification and parental controls, interoperable age assurance linked to the EU Digital Identity Wallet, proactive moderation and default safety measures by platforms, and enforcement of the Artificial Intelligence Act's transparency and risk-assessment duties for AI-driven youth-facing services. It urges action on cyberbullying, mental health, influencer advertising transparency, gender-sensitive safeguards for girls and young women, digital and media literacy, algorithmic transparency, and fair representation of minorities. It asks the Commission to assess the effectiveness of the BIK+ strategy and align its evaluation with new challenges such as algorithmic harms and persuasive design.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes a comprehensive European strategy on social media's impact on young people, combining safety-by-design, algorithmic transparency, privacy-first age assurance, digital literacy, participatory governance and evidence-based evaluation, and calls for closing regulatory gaps and strengthening accountability.

Key points

  1. Calls for a unified strategy on social media's impact on young people, combining safety-by-design, algorithmic transparency, privacy-first age assurance, digital literacy, participatory governance and evidence-based evaluation.
  2. Stresses the need for consistency across the General Data Protection Regulation, the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the Digital Services Act, the Artificial Intelligence Act and the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act.
  3. Sees the upcoming revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive as a chance to strengthen protection of young people against harmful content on video-sharing platforms and social media.
  4. Calls on the Commission to assess whether current Audiovisual Media Services Directive definitions cover services provided by influencers and professional content creators on video-sharing platforms.
  5. Stresses the need to consider extending provisions on advertising transparency and protection of minors to major video-sharing platforms, aligning their responsibilities with those of media service providers.
  6. Stresses that AI-driven youth-facing services such as chatbots, personalisation engines and content filters create risks of bias, manipulation and privacy intrusion, and calls for enforcement of the Artificial Intelligence Act's obligations.
  7. Welcomes the July 2025 Commission guidelines under Article 28 of the Digital Services Act as a step in strengthening child protection online, and recalls that tackling online sexual abuse and exploitation is essential.
  8. Encourages awareness-raising campaigns for young people, families and schools to prevent digital addiction and foster healthier social media habits.
  9. Calls for effective, privacy-respecting age verification and parental controls, including interoperable age assurance systems linked to the EU Digital Identity Wallet that verify age without collecting or retaining personal data.
  10. Urges online platforms to take greater responsibility for protecting minors through proactive moderation, default safety measures and algorithmic adjustments against addictive or deceitful content.
  11. Stresses cyberbullying prevention and response tools, including awareness programmes, educational resources for teachers and families, and peer support structures; calls for transparency in influencer advertising targeting minors.
  12. Notes social media's role in youth mobilisation, warns that algorithmic biases and personalisation increase risks of radicalisation and polarisation, and calls for fair representation of minorities and gender-sensitive safeguards for girls and young women.

Who is affected

  • Children and young people in the EU, who face harmful content, addictive design and mental health risks online.
  • Online platforms and video-sharing platforms, urged to moderate content, apply default safety measures and adjust algorithms.
  • Influencers and professional content creators, who would face transparency and ethical standards for advertising targeting minors.
  • Girls and young women, more exposed to body image pressure, harassment and misogynistic content.
  • The Commission, asked to assess legal definitions, the BIK+ strategy and enforcement gaps.

Figures and deadlines

  • Teenagers aged 11-14 spend around 9 hours per day on screens.
  • Children aged 8-10 spend around 6 hours per day on screens.
  • One in five children aged 8-12 report using screens for over 8 hours daily.
  • Social media use among children aged 9-16 has more than doubled since 2010, now averaging 3 hours per day.
  • Over 80 % of children aged 9-16 use social media platforms daily.

Legal basis: Article 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

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