Expert recommendations prioritize privacy, platform design, and young people’s wellbeing in Europe’s upcoming digital discussion
Today, the European Commission’s child-safety-online panel presents its recommendations to Ursula von der Leyen, steering the European debate from general concerns about young people’s screen time to specific policy decisions regarding social media, age assurance, and platform accountability.
The report, expected on 13 July, is the result of months of effort by a Commission-appointed group composed of young individuals and experts in health, neuroscience, psychology, computer science, child rights, and digital literacy. The special panel on child safety online of the Commission states the recommendations will be reviewed before Brussels decides on the next moves.
The issue has become a key political question in European digital policy: how to safeguard children from harmful designs, harassment, addictive usage, and inappropriate content without implementing intrusive identity checks or excluding them from rightful online participation.
Beyond technology: A question of rights
The panel’s work follows a Eurobarometer survey indicating European young people spend an average of 4.5 hours online on school days and 6.1 hours on weekends. The survey also found 14% of adolescents reported screen time of over 10 hours daily.
These figures don’t necessarily indicate harm universally. Online platforms can enhance learning, friendships, creativity, and civic involvement. Nonetheless, the Commission associates excessive screen time and social media use with concerns about mental and physical health, including stress, exclusion, hate speech exposure, body image pressure, and unforeseen violence.
This makes crafting policy responses challenging. A simple age ban might be straightforward but challenging to enforce equitably. A more nuanced approach might better protect rights but be slower, more complex, and politically less gratifying. Both approaches face the core problem: children engage with systems designed by companies whose commercial goals often prioritize attention, recurrence, and personalization.
DSA enforcement influences the context
The recommendations come shortly after the Commission initially found Meta in violation of the Digital Services Act for the addictive design of Instagram and Facebook. The European Times noted this case signifies a shift from content moderation to regulating platform design, including infinite scroll, autoplay, notifications, and recommender systems.
This enforcement context is significant. The Digital Services Act mandates major online platforms to assess and mitigate systemic risks, including those to minors and to public health and wellbeing. It also bans targeted advertising to children and bans deceptive design practices.
Thus, the panel’s recommendations are unlikely to occur in a legal void. They will align with ongoing DSA enforcement, age-verification initiatives, national debates in countries like France and Spain, and warnings from civil society that child protection must not serve as a justification for widespread surveillance.
The challenging phase commences
For families, educators, and child rights activists, the issue is as practical as it is legal. Parents often have to manage services they didn’t create, algorithms they can’t examine, and commercial systems they can’t negotiate with. Schools similarly face pressure as digital tools are incorporated into regular learning while social media infiltrates classrooms, peer interactions, and mental health services.
Meanwhile, platforms are likely to claim they have already implemented teen settings, parental controls, time-management tools, and content filters. Regulators will need to determine if these measures are substantial when the fundamental product design continues to promote extended engagement.
The Commission also undergoes a credibility trial. If overly cautious, it may appear overtaken by national governments and public worry. Conversely, overly aggressive moves might incite legal disputes over privacy, access to information, and proportionality. A lasting European strategy must safeguard children as rights-bearers, not merely
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