EU must fix slow enforcement of child social media rules

The European Commission has issued a preliminary finding that the addictive designs of Instagram and Facebook breach the Digital Services Act. The ruling follows a recommendation from the EU’s Special Panel on Child Safety Online, which told Ursula von der Leyen that "the burden of proof needs to be on providers, not regulators, parents and children."

Public sentiment across the continent is firmly behind a stricter approach. A YouGov poll for Reset Tech found that 75 percent of respondents in France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain want platforms to prove their products are safe before children use them. However, the expert panel rightly rejected a blanket ban, recognising it punishes families while leaving the underlying business model intact.

Despite this accurate diagnosis, the current regulatory framework remains too slow to act as a meaningful market deterrent. The Commission opened its case against Meta in May 2024 over features like infinite scroll and autoplay. It took more than two years to reach a preliminary finding, meaning any maximum penalty of six percent of global turnover will arrive long after the damage to children is done.

There are also gaps in how the panel proposes to verify ages. While correctly ruling out universal biometric scans and ID checks, it left the door open to behavioural profiling. The EU's own data protection authorities have warned this method can be more intrusive than traditional verification and is less accurate for the minors it aims to protect.

For Europe's digital market, the solution lies in shifting from post-hoc litigation to an ex-ante certification regime. Just as physical toys and smartphones must clear safety hurdles before sale, social media platforms should be required to prove safety upfront. Addictive features would need to be permanently disabled by default, and penalties for bad-faith behaviour must be imposed swiftly enough to actually hurt corporate bottom lines.

Breaking the network trap

Certification alone will not work if families have nowhere else to go. Users currently remain locked into X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook due to network effects, not trust. AI-enabled interoperability is required to let children and parents switch to safer alternatives without losing their contacts.

Interoperability would also allow third-party safety tools, such as content filters or parental controls, to be installed over existing platforms much like antivirus software on a laptop. This would harness market forces to discipline Big Tech, turning safety from a regulatory checkbox into a competitive advantage.

Von der Leyen noted that childhood, once lost, cannot be recovered. She is expected to present a formal proposal later this year. The Commission now has the political mandate and the evidence; the test is whether it can build a regulatory mechanism fast enough to actually cure the problem.