What is the European Parliament’s Report on the Protection of Minors Online?

The European Parliament’s own-initiative report on the Protection of minors online (2025/2060(INI)) is a draft resolution tabled by the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection on 15 May 2025 under rapporteur Christel Schaldemose. It calls for urgent and coordinated action to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for children across all digital services. The report urges swift and effective enforcement of the Digital Services Act, through binding guidelines on age verification, parental controls and rapid alert mechanisms, and proposes new horizontal legislation to ban addictive design features (infinite scrolling, autoplay, “pull to refresh”), dark patterns and manipulative interface elements that exploit minors’ psychological vulnerabilities. It also highlights the need to extend the ban on targeted advertising to all traders, regulate influencer marketing and gambling-like mechanisms in video games, and strengthen transparency and watermarking obligations for AI-generated content. By addressing gaps in existing EU consumer and digital legislation, the report seeks to future-proof online environments and place child well-being above commercial engagement strategies.

Draft Report PDF

Legislative Observatory

Committee Responsible: Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO)
Rapporteur: Christel Schaldemose (S&D)
Shadow Rapporteurs:
Dóra Dávid (EPP)
Elisabeth Dieringer (PFE)
Kosma Złotowski (ECR)
Stéphanie Yon-courtin (RENEW)
Kim Van Sparrentak (GREENS/EFA)