The European Union is preparing sweeping new regulations targeting the addictive design features of major social media platforms, including TikTok, Meta and X, amid mounting evidence linking their use to serious mental health harm among children and teenagers.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the plans in a speech in Copenhagen, painting a stark picture of digital life for young people today.
“Sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety, self-harm, addictive behaviour, cyberbullying, grooming, exploitation, suicide,” she said. “These risks are the result of business models that treat our children’s attention as a commodity.”
At the centre of the EU’s push is the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act (DFA), expected to be proposed later this year.
The legislation will specifically target what von der Leyen described as “addictive and harmful design practices” — features such as endless scrolling, autoplay and push notifications engineered to maximise time spent on platforms. The DFA will also place strict limits on the use of artificial intelligence within social media environments.
The new rules will build on the existing Digital Services Act (DSA), which already requires large platforms to tackle illegal and harmful content more aggressively. Under that framework, the European Commission has opened investigations into TikTok, X, and Meta’s Instagram and Facebook platforms.
Separately, proceedings have begun against X over the use of its Grok AI tool to generate sexual images of women and children.
Von der Leyen also raised the prospect of setting a minimum age for social media access across EU member states, with a Commission proposal potentially arriving as early as this summer following recommendations from an expert panel.
“The question is not whether young people should have access to social media,” she said. “The question is whether social media should have access to young people.”
The EU’s regulatory push is backed by a growing body of academic and clinical evidence.
A 2024 peer-reviewed systematic review published in Healthcare (MDPI), drawing on a decade of literature across five major databases, found significant challenges to children’s mental wellbeing posed by the rapid evolution of social media from a basic networking platform into a multifaceted tool.
The United States Public Health Service Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory added further weight to those concerns, warning that frequent social media use could be associated with changes in parts of the brain linked to emotions and learning. The advisory said it may also affect impulse control, social behaviour, emotional regulation, and sensitivity to social rewards and punishments.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has warned that media use and screen time are associated with increased risks for children and adolescents, including attention deficits, increased aggression, low self-esteem and depression.
The American Psychological Association has also highlighted the correlation between high social media use and poor mental health among adolescents.
Gender disparities are also pronounced. Research from Pew Research Center found that 34% of teenage girls said social media made them feel worse about their own lives, compared with 20% of boys. The study also found teenagers are more likely today than two years ago to describe their own social media use as excessive.
Spokespeople for TikTok, Meta and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the EU’s proposals.
The Commission said enforcement action against Meta is already under way because Instagram and Facebook are allegedly failing to enforce their stated minimum age requirement of 13.
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