The European Parliament has issued a resolution which calls for stronger EU-wide measures to protect children and young people online, including restrictions on addictive design, greater algorithmic transparency, privacy-preserving age assurance and tighter controls around AI companions and synthetic intimate content.
MEPs called for an “integrated European strategy” under which responsibility for online safety would be shared between legislators, platforms, families and schools. A central theme is that platforms themselves should do more to address risks arising from recommender systems and persuasive or addictive design.
What is being proposed?
Among the practical measures, the European Parliament wants online businesses to:
- introduce age verification without collecting or retaining personal data;
- provide greater transparency around social-media algorithms;
- introduce a “youth mode” under which targeted advertising to children would be disabled;
- implement mandatory ethical standards for AI companions;
- improve transparency around the training of AI models; and
- prohibit AI systems from generating or manipulating images or videos depicting a person in sexual content without their consent.
The resolution also targets influencers and professional content creators. MEPs want the forthcoming revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) to clarify their status and responsibilities on video-sharing platforms, particularly in relation to advertising transparency. They also propose an EU-level code of conduct covering influencers, agencies and platforms, together with a legal definition of “influencer marketing”.
The resolution illustrates the European Parliament’s regulatory priorities. Of particular importance will be how these proposals feed into the forthcoming revision of the AVMSD and wider EU initiatives concerning children and social media such as the new EU Kids Act and the Digital Fairness Act.
