At the plenary session on Tuesday 12 December, MEPs adopted the report by Kim van Sparrentak (Greens/EFA, Dutch) against digital addiction (see EUROPE 13279/19), calling for a ban on addictive techniques such as endless scrolling or automatic reading on online platforms (545 votes in favour, 12 against, 61 abstentions).
With this report, MEPs are above all asking the Commission to close the existing loopholes, by proposing new legislation to supplement the harmful addictive techniques not covered by the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.
MEPs also want to oblige companies to develop “ethical and fair” digital products and services “at the design stage”, with no dark pattern encouraging users to stay with the service in question.
A ‘right not to be disturbed’ should also be introduced, and the Commission should work on drawing up a list of best practices in terms of design, including options for users such as ‘think before you share’.
In addition, awareness-raising campaigns should be carried out to complement the potential future legislative arsenal, so as to stem the “physical, psychological and material damage that addictive design can cause, including loss of concentration and cognitive capacity, burnout, stress, depression and limitation of physical activity”.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/a3l (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)