The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee adopted a draft report (with 38 votes in favour, none against and 1 abstention) warning of the addictive nature of certain digital services, such as online games, social media, streaming services, and online marketplaces, which exploit people’s vulnerabilities to capture their attention and monetise on their data.

Mental health effects

While social media can affect society in positive ways (e.g. increasing efficiency, accessibility, connectedness), its addictive design can cause physical, psychological and material harm (loss of concentration and cognitive ability, burnout, stress, depression, limited physical activity). MEPs are especially worried about the impact digital addiction has on children and adolescents, who are more vulnerable to these symptoms, and they call for more research and regulation in this area.


New EU rules needed

MEPs believe that recent rules such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Artificial Intelligence Act are not enough to regulate the issue of addictive design. They urge the Commission to close existing legal gaps and present new legislation on the topic. If this is not addressed, they say, Parliament should use its right of legislative initiative.

In addition, MEPs say harmful addictive techniques not covered by the directive on Unfair Commercial Practice (e.g. infinite scroll, default auto play, constant push and read receipt notifications) should be examined and prohibited by the Commission.


Ethical by design

MEPs want companies to be obliged to develop ethical and fair digital products and services “by design” without dark patterns, misleading, and addictive design. The Commission should put forward a digital “right not to be disturbed” and create a list of good design practices such as: “think before you share”; turning off notifications by default; chronological feeds; greyscale mode; warnings or automatic locks after a pre-set time use (in particular for minors); total screen time summaries. Education guidelines and awareness-raising campaigns should promote self-control strategies to help individuals develop safer online behaviours and healthy habits.


Next steps

The European Commission is currently carrying out an evaluation to see if it needs to update certain consumer protection legislation to ensure a high level of protection in the digital environment. The results are expected in 2024. Parliament’s own-initiative report, once adopted in plenary, will feed into the ongoing fitness check.