Sittings · Document

Adopted text 2025-11-26

Protection of minors online

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✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 4 Sept 2026

Parliament's resolution on protecting minors online calls for stronger EU rules and enforcement to address risks like addictive design, dark patterns, targeted advertising, and harmful content. It urges the Commission to propose legislation for age-appropriate design, ban engagement-based recommender algorithms for minors, and set harmonised digital age limits of 16 and 13. It calls for measures on parental controls, video games, influencer marketing, AI, and media literacy, and stresses the need for effective enforcement of existing laws like the DSA.

Key points

  1. Stresses that online platforms accessible to minors must put in place appropriate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security.
  2. Welcomes the Commission guidelines on minors' protection but says they are not legally binding and may need further legislative action, especially on addictive design and profiling-based recommendations.
  3. Urges swift implementation and enforcement of the DSA and AVMSD, and calls on the Commission to conclude investigations and take corrective measures, including fines.
  4. Calls for a rapid alert mechanism at EU level to detect dangerous trends and challenges, and for platforms to display crisis resource panels.
  5. Expresses concern about inadequate risk assessments by very large online platforms and calls for more robust assessments, including revenue data and algorithm effects on minors.
  6. Urges Member States to designate and empower Digital Services Coordinators without delay and allocate adequate resources.
  7. Calls for a harmonised European digital age limit of 16 for social media, video-sharing platforms and AI companions, and of 13 for social media, unless parents authorise otherwise.
  8. Calls for parental control tools to be interoperable, user-friendly, and effective, and for platforms to publish data on their effectiveness.
  9. Urges the Commission to propose legislation banning engagement-based recommender algorithms for minors and disabling addictive design features by default.
  10. Calls for prohibiting loot boxes and other randomised content in games likely accessed by minors, and addressing risks from in-app currencies and micro-transactions.
  11. Calls for protecting minors from commercial exploitation by prohibiting monetisation of kidfluencing and establishing EU-wide transparency for influencer marketing.
  12. Stresses the need for media and digital literacy in national curricula and training for teachers, and for targeted support for vulnerable children.

Who is affected

  • Online platforms, including social media and video-sharing platforms, would face new obligations on age assurance, design, and recommender systems.
  • Video game providers would be subject to minimum DSA-equivalent obligations and prohibitions on certain monetisation features.
  • Influencers and brands would face clearer rules and transparency requirements on commercial content.
  • Parents and guardians would get better tools and training to manage minors' online activities.
  • Minors themselves would gain higher protection from harmful practices and content, but also face new age limits.

Figures and deadlines

  • 97 % of young people use the internet daily.
  • 78 % of 13 to 17-year-olds check devices at least hourly, 46 % almost constantly.
  • 16 to 24-year-olds spend over seven hours a day on the internet.
  • 84 % of children aged 11 to 14 play video games.
  • 97 % of the most popular websites and apps use at least one dark pattern.
  • Proposed digital age limits: 16 for social media, video-sharing platforms and AI companions; 13 for social media.

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