Text · Report parliamentary committee draft
On the impact of social media and the online environment on young people
Document CULT-PR-776924 · 2025/2081(INI)
- Kind
- Report parliamentary committee draft CULT-PR-776924
- Date
- 10 September 2025
- Committee
- Committee on Culture and Education
- Rapporteur
- Sandro Ruotolo
- Dossier
- 2025/2081(INI)
More facts (3)
- Formats
- Official page PDF Word
- Subject matter
- TECN, PROT, TELE
- Reference
- 2025/2081(INI)
In short
A summary of the text written by AI; ¶ opens the paragraph it rests on.
AI: In short Written by AI from the official text — check the source · deepseek-flash · 20 Sept 2026
A draft report by Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education on how social media and the online environment affect young people. It calls for a unified EU strategy combining safety-by-design, algorithmic transparency, privacy-first age assurance, digital literacy, participatory governance and evidence-based evaluation. It asks the Commission to ensure consistency across the GDPR, the AVMSD, the Digital Services Act and the Artificial Intelligence Act, and the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act, and to use the next AVMSD revision to extend rules on advertising transparency and protection of minors to major video-sharing platforms and influencers. It calls for privacy-respecting age verification and parental controls, interoperable age assurance linked to the EU Digital Identity Wallet, proactive moderation and default safety measures by platforms, and enforcement of the Artificial Intelligence Act's transparency and risk-assessment duties for AI-driven youth-facing services. It urges action on cyberbullying, mental health, influencer advertising transparency, gender-sensitive safeguards for girls and young women, digital and media literacy, algorithmic transparency, and fair representation of minorities. It asks the Commission to assess the effectiveness of the BIK+ strategy and align its evaluation with new challenges such as algorithmic harms and persuasive design.
Position. The rapporteur proposes a comprehensive European strategy on social media's impact on young people, combining safety-by-design, algorithmic transparency, privacy-first age assurance, digital literacy, participatory governance and evidence-based evaluation, and calls for closing regulatory gaps and strengthening accountability.
Key points
- Calls for a unified strategy on social media's impact on young people, combining safety-by-design, algorithmic transparency, privacy-first age assurance, digital literacy, participatory governance and evidence-based evaluation.
- Stresses the need for consistency across the General Data Protection Regulation, the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the Digital Services Act, the Artificial Intelligence Act and the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act.
- Sees the upcoming revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive as a chance to strengthen protection of young people against harmful content on video-sharing platforms and social media.
- Calls on the Commission to assess whether current Audiovisual Media Services Directive definitions cover services provided by influencers and professional content creators on video-sharing platforms.
- Stresses the need to consider extending provisions on advertising transparency and protection of minors to major video-sharing platforms, aligning their responsibilities with those of media service providers.
- Stresses that AI-driven youth-facing services such as chatbots, personalisation engines and content filters create risks of bias, manipulation and privacy intrusion, and calls for enforcement of the Artificial Intelligence Act's obligations.
- Welcomes the July 2025 Commission guidelines under Article 28 of the Digital Services Act as a step in strengthening child protection online, and recalls that tackling online sexual abuse and exploitation is essential.
- Encourages awareness-raising campaigns for young people, families and schools to prevent digital addiction and foster healthier social media habits.
- Calls for effective, privacy-respecting age verification and parental controls, including interoperable age assurance systems linked to the EU Digital Identity Wallet that verify age without collecting or retaining personal data.
- Urges online platforms to take greater responsibility for protecting minors through proactive moderation, default safety measures and algorithmic adjustments against addictive or deceitful content.
- Stresses cyberbullying prevention and response tools, including awareness programmes, educational resources for teachers and families, and peer support structures; calls for transparency in influencer advertising targeting minors.
- Notes social media's role in youth mobilisation, warns that algorithmic biases and personalisation increase risks of radicalisation and polarisation, and calls for fair representation of minorities and gender-sensitive safeguards for girls and young women.
Who is affected
- Children and young people in the EU, who face harmful content, addictive design and mental health risks online.
- Online platforms and video-sharing platforms, urged to moderate content, apply default safety measures and adjust algorithms.
- Influencers and professional content creators, who would face transparency and ethical standards for advertising targeting minors.
- Girls and young women, more exposed to body image pressure, harassment and misogynistic content.
- The Commission, asked to assess legal definitions, the BIK+ strategy and enforcement gaps.
Figures and deadlines
- Teenagers aged 11-14 spend around 9 hours per day on screens.
- Children aged 8-10 spend around 6 hours per day on screens.
- One in five children aged 8-12 report using screens for over 8 hours daily.
- Social media use among children aged 9-16 has more than doubled since 2010, now averaging 3 hours per day.
- Over 80 % of children aged 9-16 use social media platforms daily.
Legal basis. Article 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Text
The text as parsed from the official Word file. Every paragraph has a link (¶) and can be saved to a project as a passage.
Motion for a european parliament resolution
–having regard to Directive (EU) 2018/1808 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018 amending Directive 2010/13/EU on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the provision of audiovisual media services (Audiovisual Media Services Directive) in view of changing market realities1,
–having regard to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation)2,
–having regard to Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market For Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act)3,
–having regard to Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence and amending Regulations (EC) No 300/2008, (EU) No 167/2013, (EU) No 168/2013, (EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1139 and (EU) 2019/2144 and Directives 2014/90/EU, (EU) 2016/797 and (EU) 2020/1828 (Artificial Intelligence Act)4,
–having regard to Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘Unfair Commercial Practices Directive’)5,
–having regard to its resolution of 5 October 2023 on the new European strategy for a better internet for kids (BIK+)6,
–having regard to its resolution of 12 December 2023 on addictive design of online services and consumer protection in the EU single market7,
–having regard to its resolution of 11 March 2021 on children’s rights in view of the EU Strategy on the rights of the child8,
–having regard to the Commission guidelines on measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors online, pursuant to Article 28(4) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, published on 14 July 2025,
–having regard to the study requested by Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education entitled ‘The influence of social media on the development of children and young people’, published by its Directorate-General for Internal Policies in February 20239,
–having regard to the opinions of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs,
A.whereas global screen time data from 2025 shows that teenagers aged 11-14 spend around 9 hours per day on screens, that children aged 8-10 spend around 6 hours per day on screens, and that one in five children aged 8-12 report using screens for over 8 hours daily;
B.whereas social media use among children in the EU aged 9-16 has more than doubled since 2010, now averaging 3 hours per day, with over 80 % using social media platforms daily, making online interaction a central part of their everyday lives;
C.whereas social media exposes young users to a wide range of harmful content, including cyberbullying, sexualised material, disinformation, body image pressures, the promotion of self-harm, violence, extremism, non-consensual content and manipulative algorithm-driven advertising;
D.whereas social media platform features are designed to maximise engagement, such as infinite scrolling and compulsive engagement with notifications, foster addictive use and may exacerbate mental health challenges, contributing to sleep disruption and emotional withdrawal;
E.whereas excessive social media use is associated with elevated risks of mental health issues in young people, such as depression and anxiety;
F.whereas social media influencers significantly shape young people’s behaviours, consumption habits and opinions;
H.whereas children below the official age limits hold social media accounts, often gaining access by misrepresenting their age to bypass social media platform restrictions;
I.whereas the current EU legal framework, including the General Data Protection Regulation, the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Artificial Intelligence Act, provides a solid foundation for protecting children online, though persistent gaps remain in consistent enforcement;
J.whereas digital and media literacy is fundamental to empowering young people against manipulation, misinformation, disinformation and profiling on social media;
1.Stresses that addressing the impact of social media on young people requires a unified strategy combining safety-by-design, algorithmic transparency, privacy-first age assurance, digital literacy, participatory governance and evidence-based evaluation to ensure equal protection and empowerment for all;
2.Stresses the need to ensure consistency across key EU legal instruments, such as the General Data Protection Regulation, the AVMSD, the DSA and the Artificial Intelligence Act, and the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act, to build a unified framework for protecting children online;
3.Considers the upcoming revision of the AVMSD a timely opportunity to strengthen the protection of young people against harmful content on video-sharing platforms (VSPs) and social media;
4.Calls on the Commission to assess whether current AVMSD definitions fully cover relevant audiovisual media services, especially those provided by influencers and professional content creators on VSPs;
5.Stresses the need to consider extending key AVMSD provisions, such as those on advertising transparency and the protection of minors, to major VSPs; underlines that aligning platform responsibilities with those of media service providers would help to close regulatory gaps affecting young audiences;
6.Stresses that AI-driven youth-facing services, such as chatbots, personalisation engines and algorithmic content filters, present new risks of bias, manipulation and privacy intrusions, reinforcing the necessity of enforcing the Artificial Intelligence Act’s obligations on transparency, risk assessment and the safeguarding of children’s rights;
7.Welcomes the July 2025 Commission guidelines pursuant to Article 28 DSA as a key step in strengthening child protection online, particularly on VSPs and social media, offering practical tools to help platforms and regulators apply the DSA rules effectively;
8.Recalls that tackling online sexual abuse and exploitation is essential to addressing the impact of social media on young people; stresses the importance of reinforcing the legal framework and recognises the recast of Directive 2011/93/EU10 as a key measure for strengthening child protection online;
9.Encourages awareness-raising campaigns targeting young people, families and schools, similar to initiatives such as Safer Internet Day, to prevent digital addiction, foster peer support skills and encourage healthier social media habits;
10.Stresses the need for effective and privacy-respecting age verification and parental controls; calls, in that regard, for interoperable age assurance systems, linked to the EU Digital Identity Wallet, that verify a user’s age without collecting or retaining personal data;
11.Urges online platforms to take greater responsibility for protecting minors from harmful or manipulative content, by ensuring proactive moderation, default safety measures and algorithmic adjustments to prevent exposure to addictive or deceitful content;
12.Stresses the importance of cyberbullying prevention and response tools, including awareness programmes, educational resources for teachers and families, and peer support structures, such as anti-bullying programmes;
13.Stresses the need for full transparency in influencer advertising that targets minors; underlines the importance of sponsorship disclosures and ethical standards for influencers targeting children, highlighting the risk of misleading marketing when advertisements are hidden as organic content;
14.Notes that social media plays a key role in youth mobilisations and awareness campaigns, demonstrating its power to drive meaningful participation; highlights that social media can both facilitate and hinder youth political engagement;
15.Warns that algorithmic biases and intense content personalisation increase the risk of youth radicalisation and polarisation;
16.Stresses the importance of fair representation of minorities and marginalised identities in social media spaces to foster inclusion and belonging;
17.Highlights that girls and young women are more exposed to social media harms, including body image pressure, harassment, and misogynistic content; stresses the need for gender-sensitive digital safeguards to ensure safe, inclusive and empowering online environments for all young users;
18.Highlights the key role of both formal and non-formal education in equipping young people with the digital skills and the critical thinking needed to navigate social media safely and effectively;
19.Stresses the need for increased transparency around social media algorithmic systems, as opaque algorithms and content moderation hinder young users’ ability to comprehend why certain content is recommended, suppressed or removed, thus undermining their capacity to navigate online content intentionally;
20.Calls on the Commission to assess the effectiveness of the BIK+ strategy in addressing current online risks for young people, and to align its evaluation with evolving challenges, such as algorithmic harms and persuasive design;
Back matter, 2
Parts that accompany the text rather than belong to it: explanatory statement, annexes, opinions appended by other committees. Collapsed.
Explanatory statement 19 blocks
Digital platforms have transformed how young Europeans live, learn, and connect, putting them at the heart of childhood and adolescence today. According to the Joint Research Centre, more than 80 % percent of young people in Europe use social media daily, with time spent online having more than doubled since 2010. Eurostat data show that in 2024, 97 % of people aged 16–29 in the Union accessed the Internet daily, and almost nine in ten engaged on social networks. These figures underline the deep digital immersion of young Europeans in the online environment, but also highlight the urgency of ensuring that their online environment is safe, inclusive, and supportive of their well-being.
The Rapporteur recognises the multiple opportunities digital platforms bring: access to information, new forms of creativity, peer support, and channels for civic mobilisation. Yet these benefits come with equally profound risks. The WHO and the OECD have documented a marked rise in problematic social media use among adolescents, which now affects more than one in ten and is linked to emotional withdrawal, sleep disruption, and impaired concentration. A recent EU study found that over a third of 15-year-olds spend more than three hours per day on social media, with those spending longer hours reporting higher rates of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Girls are particularly affected, especially in relation to body image pressure and exposure to online harassment. These trends demonstrate why the Union must respond decisively, building on its existing legal frameworks while adapting to new challenges.
The Union has already established a robust legal framework through the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), the Digital Services Act (DSA), and the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). Together, these instruments address privacy, harmful content, online advertising, and algorithmic accountability. However, fragmentation and uneven enforcement create persistent gaps. Influencers and professional content creators often operate at a scale comparable to broadcasters but fall into regulatory grey zones. The Rapporteur stresses thus the need to ensure full coherence across instruments, particularly with the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act, so that children enjoy equal protection regardless of the platform or service.
The upcoming revision of the AVMSD provides a timely opportunity to modernise the Union’s audiovisual legal framework. The Rapporteur stresses the need to assess whether its scope should be extended to reflect the realities of today’s media ecosystem, in which influencers and content creators act as de facto media service providers. Applying core provisions, such as advertising transparency and protection of minors to major video-sharing platforms (VSPs) and influencer-driven content would close current loopholes and align responsibilities more closely with those of traditional broadcasters. This would help ensure a consistent level of protection for children across audiovisual environments.
AI-driven services are increasingly shaping children’s experiences online: from personalised recommendation engines to conversational chatbots and automated moderation. These technologies hold potential but also present new risks of bias, manipulation, and privacy intrusion. Without strong safeguards, algorithmic systems may reinforce harmful stereotypes, amplify polarisation, or expose children to manipulative content. The Rapporteur therefore stresses the importance of full enforcement of the AI Act, particularly the obligations on transparency, risk assessment, and safeguards for children’s rights. Algorithmic accountability is not simply a technical matter, it is a democratic imperative to ensure that young people understand, in age-appropriate ways, how their online environment is shaped.
Mental health concerns are at the core of the debate. Excessive and compulsive social media use has been associated with anxiety, depression, and lower well-being, while constant exposure to addictive design features undermines healthy development. To address these risks, the Rapporteur calls for a mix of preventive and regulatory measures: privacy-respecting age verification system, interoperable with the European Digital Identity Wallet, effective parental controls, and default safety by design. Platforms must also take greater responsibility in moderating harmful or manipulative content and in adapting algorithms to reduce exposure to addictive features.
Cyberbullying remains one of the most widespread online harms faced by children and adolescents. Preventive action must combine awareness programmes in schools, teacher training, accessible reporting mechanisms, and peer support structures. Influencers also play a major role in shaping the consumption habits and values of young people. Clearer rules on sponsorship disclosures, transparency obligations, and ethical standards, particularly in relation to child influencers, are necessary to avoid misleading marketing and protect minors from covert advertising.
The Rapporteur further emphasises the gendered nature of online harms. Evidence shows that girls and young women are disproportionately targeted with harassment, misogynistic content, and body image pressures. Gender-sensitive safeguards must therefore form part of the Union’s digital protection framework, ensuring that online spaces are inclusive and empowering for all young users.
Regulation alone is not sufficient. Empowering children through digital and media literacy is essential to equip them with the critical skills needed to navigate social media safely and intentionally. Schools, youth organisations, and civil society must be supported in providing young people with the tools to understand algorithms, resist manipulation, and manage their digital presence responsibly.
At the same time, it is vital to recognise that social media also fosters civic participation and has enabled young people across Europe to mobilise around causes from climate change to gender equality. Ensuring safe and inclusive online spaces will strengthen not only child protection but also youth engagement in European democracy. This also requires attention to inclusion: minority and marginalised communities must be fairly represented, and their identities respected in digital spaces, to foster a sense of belonging.
Finally, effective policies require strong enforcement and continuous monitoring. Initiatives such as the BIK+ strategy are valuable, but their success depends on rigorous evaluation and adaptation to new risks, such as algorithmic harms or manipulative persuasive design. The Rapporteur calls on the Commission to assess the effectiveness of current initiatives and to ensure that Union action keeps pace with the rapidly evolving digital environment.
Social media and the current online environment offer opportunities for learning, creativity, and civic participation, but also exposes children to serious risks of harm, manipulation, and exclusion. The Rapporteur therefore calls for a comprehensive European strategy combining safety-by-design, algorithmic transparency, privacy-first age assurance, education and empowerment, and robust enforcement. By closing regulatory gaps and strengthening accountability, the Union can ensure that children and young people grow up in a digital environment that protects their dignity, supports their well-being, and enables them to thrive as active citizens of tomorrow.
Annex: declaration of input 4 blocks
Pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure, the rapporteur declares that he included in his report input on matters pertaining to the subject of the file that he received, in the preparation of the draft report, from the following interest representatives falling within the scope of the Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory transparency register1, or from the following representatives of public authorities of third countries, including their diplomatic missions and embassies:
| 1. Interest representatives falling within the scope of the Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory transparency register |
| 5Rights Foundation |
| Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) |
| Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom, European University Institute |
| COFACE Families Europe |
| Digital Futures for Children (DFC) centre, London School of Economics |
| EdTech |
| e-Enfance |
| Eurochild |
| European Schoolnet |
| Leiden University |
| Maghweb association |
| Save the children |
| Technological University Dublin |
| TikTok |
| UNICEF |
Where natural persons are identified in the list by their name, by their function or by both, the rapporteur declares that he has submitted to the natural persons concerned the European Parliament’s Data Protection Notice No 484 (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/data-protect/index.do), which sets out the conditions applicable to the processing of their personal data and the rights linked to that processing.
Connections
The dossier, the decisions on this text and its other versions.
No connections found for this item.
Sources & citation
Where the facts on this page come from, and how to cite it.
- Data source
- Licensed CC BY 4.0.
- Retrieved
- 25 September 2026
Cite as
European Parliament (2025). “DRAFT REPORT on the impact of social media and the online environment on young people”. Text, 10 September 2025. docId CULT-PR-776924. EU Parl Watch Research. https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/CULT-PR-776924 (retrieved 25 September 2026). Data: EP Open Data API: document record, https://data.europarl.europa.eu/api/v2/documents/CULT-PR-776924 (CC BY 4.0).
BibTeX
@misc{epw-text-cult-pr-776924,
author = {{European Parliament}},
title = {{DRAFT REPORT on the impact of social media and the online environment on young people}},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-09-10},
howpublished = {\url{https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/CULT-PR-776924}},
url = {https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/CULT-PR-776924},
urldate = {2026-09-25},
publisher = {EU Parl Watch Research},
note = {Text. docId CULT-PR-776924. Data: EP Open Data API: document record (CC BY 4.0)}
}