European Parliament pushes back against Big Tech as it adopts child-safety blueprint
Two days after U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick visited Brussels calling for a rollback of EU tech regulation, the European Parliament today moved decisively in the opposite direction, adopting a landmark report on the protection of children online. The vote comes as a new WHO-linked study this week warned of soaring anxiety, sleep disruption and attention disorders among young people driven by addictive digital design. With major platforms still failing to comply with basic EU and WTO obligations, Renew Europe's message is clear: Europe will protect children before profits.
Reacting to Secretary Lutnick’s remarks, Renew Europe shadow rapporteur Stéphanie Yon-Courtin delivered an unequivocal message:
“Europe is sovereign, it is not a regulatory colony. Our digital laws are not for sale. We will not back down on children’s protections because a foreign billionaire or Big Tech tells us to. Parents across Europe expect us to protect their children and stand up to major platforms' most harmful practices, not surrender to them.”
Stéphanie Yon-CourtinRenew Europe MEP, France, Renaissance
For Renew Europe, the adoption of this report marks a turning point in Europe’s response to the digital risks and mental-health crisis affecting minors across the Union and a direct rebuttal to attempts by external actors to weaken EU standards:
Stéphanie Yon-Courtin continued:
“This report sends a simple message: children’s safety comes first. We need to shut down the addictive design tricks and toxic algorithms that keep our kids glued to screens and exposed to real harm. A harmonised digital age of majority, supported by privacy preserving age verification and guided by the Commission’s expert panel, is much needed.”
Context and Renew Europe’s contribution
The report adopted today sets out Europe’s most comprehensive child-safety agenda to date. It calls for:
Full enforcement of the Digital Services Act, especially concerning minors;
Stricter rules on dark patterns and manipulative design;
Age-verification mechanisms that are accurate, privacy-preserving and harmonized at EU level;
EU-level regulation of influencer marketing, with greater transparency and accountability;
Renew Europe’s amendments strengthened the report by demanding robust implementation of DSA Article 28 guidelines on child protection and stronger EU-wide rules to close existing loopholes via the Digital Fairness Act.
Veronika Cifrová Ostrihoňová MEP, campaigner for children’s digital rights, said:
"Across Europe, parents are seeing the consequences of toxic digital design: children bombarded with harmful content, pushed towards self-harm and, in the most tragic cases, AI assistants nudging vulnerable teenagers towards suicide instead of helping them. That is the reality we are facing. Children are not merely future consumers, they are people in formation and they need us - the adults and the policymakers - to act on their behalf.”
Veronika Cifrová OstrihoňováRenew Europe MEP, Slovakia, Progresívne Slovensko
Link to Renew policy paper: “Growing up in the Algorithm”
Today’s vote reflects Renew Europe’s wider digital-rights agenda. In a recent policy paper, European liberals and democrats call for accelerated EU-funded research on the psychological impact of platforms on minors, teacher training and digital literacy investment under the next EU budget and a fit for purpose Digital Fairness Act to close regulatory gaps that allow harmful practices to persist.
Veronika Cifrová Ostrihoňová MEP concluded:
“We are facing a public health crisis here. Under no circumstances can children’s wellbeing be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with platforms or foreign governments. Europe will not lower its standards, and the upcoming Digital Fairness Act is our opportunity to stand firm and make the internet safer for children.”