The European Commission has warned of growing risks social media poses to children and teenagers on Tuesday 16 June, as Brussels moves closer to tightening protections for minors online.
The warning follows the final meeting of the Commission’s Special Panel on Child Safety Online, a body established by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to assess the psychological, social and developmental impact of digital platforms on young users.
Its recommendations are due to be presented on 13 July.
The panel’s work forms part of a broader EU push to strengthen enforcement under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which already requires large online platforms to assess and mitigate risks to minors.
A new Eurobarometer survey released alongside the meeting highlighted the scale of the challenge.
It found adolescents across Europe spend an average of 4.5 hours online on school days and 6.1 hours on weekends, with 14% reporting more than 10 hours of daily screen time.
Nearly one in three said social media leaves them feeling stressed, sad or excluded, while 45% admitted comparing themselves to others online. A quarter said they had encountered harmful content, including hate speech.
The findings also showed a link between earlier social media use and increased screen time, with younger users reporting significantly higher exposure levels.
“When one in three young people say it leaves them feeling stressed, sad or excluded, we cannot ignore the impact on their mental health and wellbeing,” von der Leyen said.
The Commission’s concern reflects a wider regulatory shift across Europe.
In 2025, Brussels introduced updated guidance under the Digital Services Act (DSA) aimed at reducing exposure to addictive platform design, cyberbullying, and harmful content targeting minors.
The DSA is the European Union’s flagship online regulation designed to make digital platforms more accountable for the content they host and the risks they create. Fully applicable since 2024, it sets legally binding obligations on major tech companies (including large platforms and search engines) to identify and reduce systemic risks such as harmful or illegal content, disinformation, and threats to minors’ safety.
It also introduces stricter transparency rules on algorithms and advertising, bans targeted ads to children based on profiling, and requires platforms to give users clearer ways to report and challenge harmful content.
The EU is also developing age verification tools linked to its broader digital identity framework.
The debate is also gaining momentum internationally, with governments in the United Kingdom, Australia and parts of Europe exploring stricter age restrictions or platform limits for under-16s.
EU officials say the core challenge remains balancing child protection with privacy rights and freedom of expression, a debate expected to intensify as new recommendations are presented in July.
A Kyiv-Warsaw train was struck near the Polish border, Ukraine's state railway firm said on Sunday. No passengers were injured. Ukrai...
Maritime trackers received new reports of an attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, according to the ...
Indonesian rescuers are searching for 130 people after a passenger ship carrying 243 people sank in the Java Sea following bad weather, while 113 p...
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in New Delhi on Friday to attend the weekend BRICS summit, amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict, joining a host of foreign dignitaries.
Maritime trackers received new reports of an attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), adding to concerns about energy supplies after Saudi Arabia shut down a vital oil pipeline on Saturday.
A Kyiv-Warsaw train was struck near the Polish border, Ukraine's state railway firm said on Sunday. No passengers were injured. Ukrainian Railways said that the country's railways were facing systematic attacks for a second day and warned of widespread delays.
Saudi Arabia has temporarily shut down its 1,200-kilometre East-West oil pipeline after it was hit by a drone attack, with Riyadh and Baghdad saying the strike originated from Iraq.
Dubai’s property market has spent years climbing. Now, for the first time since 2021, prices are moving in the opposite direction.
A Kyiv-Warsaw train was struck near the Polish border, Ukraine's state railway firm said on Sunday. No passengers were injured. Ukrainian Railways said that the country's railways were facing systematic attacks for a second day and warned of widespread delays.
Indonesian rescuers are searching for 130 people after a passenger ship carrying 243 people sank in the Java Sea following bad weather, while 113 people have been evacuated and six have died, the country’s search and rescue agency said on Sunday.
China will lead the creation of an open source platform among BRICS members to promote cooperation on large language models, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Sunday.
Swedes vote in an election on Sunday (13 September) that could see the far-right enter government for the first time if the country's right-wing parties can form a majority.
Philippine rescuers recovered 41 more charred remains from a ferry fire on Saturday (12 September), taking the death toll to 76, while 13 people remained unaccounted for as forensic teams worked to identify the victims.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment