The EU is coming down heavily on social media firms and plans to target “addictive design” features on TikTok as governments worldwide look to protect children from social media harms. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the region will take action against certain features on social media platforms later in the year, which also includes Meta (Instagram & Facebook) as they are failing to enforce their own minimum age of 13.

Von der Leyen said the EU is taking action against TikTok and its addictive design – endless scrolling, autoplay, and push notifications. “The same applies to Meta, because we believe Instagram and Facebook are failing to enforce their own minimum age of 13,” she said.

“We are investigating platforms that allow children to go down ‘rabbit holes’ of harmful content – such as videos that promote eating disorders or self-harm,” she added.

The EU’s executive arm has also developed its own age verification app, which has the “highest privacy standards in the world,” according to Von der Leyen.

Member states will soon be able to integrate it into their digital wallets, and online platforms can easily enforce it. “No more excuses – the technology for age-verification is available,” the EU chief said.

The EU Commission could have a legal proposal prepared as early as the summer, as it awaits the advice and findings of its ‘Special Panel of experts on Child Safety Online.’

The growing legal scrutiny over child safety on social media platforms follows a major U.S. court ruling in March against Meta and YouTube, which determined that features such as infinite scrolling and autoplay contributed to addictive behavior and mental health issues among teenagers.