Activities of Ivan ŠTEFANEC related to 2023/2043(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on addictive design of online services and consumer protection in the EU single market
Amendments (26)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6
Citation 6
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 a (new)
Citation 7 a (new)
– having regard to the Better Internet for Kids strategy of the Commission,
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas many digital services, such as online games, social media, streaming services for films, series or music, online marketplaces or web shops and dating apps arcan be designed to keep users on the platform for as long as possible so as to maximise the time and money they spend there; whereas consequently many online services arcan be designed to be as addictive as possible; whereas the terms ‘addictive design’ or ‘behavioural design’ of online services describe features that lead to behaviour-related forms of digital addiction, such as, ‘excessive or harmful internet use’, ‘smartphone addiction’, ‘technological or internet addiction’, ‘social media addiction’; whereas there is a growing consensus among academics that phenomena, such as ‘social media addiction’ exist;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas internet-use-related addiction displays several similar side effects to substance-related addictions, including evidence of tolerance and relapse; whereas strict regulation exists for addictive products, such as drugs, alcohol, tobacco and gambling to prevent addiction and protect consumers from harm; whereas problematic smartphone or internet use has been linked to lower life satisfaction and mental health symptoms such as depression, low self-esteem, body-image disorders, eating disorders, anxiety, high levels of perceived stress, neglect of family and friends, loss of self-control, lack of sleep and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, such as compulsive buying among young adultproblematic smartphone or internet use has been linked to lower life satisfaction and mental health symptoms; whereas heavy users of digital media are twice as likely to have mental- health issues, including risk factors for suicide and self-harm; whereas children and young people are more vulnerable to these symptoms; whereas mental-health conditions established in childhood can shape an individual’s subsequent life course; whereas excessive internet use is associated with problems with daily obligations, declining grades, poor school and academic performance or poor job performance;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas according to some research, excessive screen time or problematic use impacts brain development; whereas increases in social media use problems are linked to attention deficits, shorter attention spans, impulsiveness and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms; whereas intensive social media use has been associated with lower levels of grey matter in certain areas of the brain, just as is the case with other addictive substances, such as alcohol and heroin; whereas excessive screen time (more than 2-3 hours a day in front of a screen) can have effects on neurodevelopment, learning and memory, and the sedentary lifestyle linked to time spent on electronic media brings a potential increased risk of early neurodegeneration;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas addictive design can be seen to have a negative impact on everyone, not just individuals showing problematic usage patterns; whereas addictive design, especially of smartphones and social media, makes it hard to focus on the task in hand owing to distractions such as messages and notifications constantly disrupting peoples’ concentration, even at school or while driving; whereas the addictive design of online services leads to increased pressure to perform and social pressure to be permanently online and connected, increasing the risk of stress and burnout; whereas consumers online are increasingly confronted with an information overload and excessivenormous sensorial stimuli throughout the day, constraining their cognitive ability, and user interfaces offer only limited control over their data; whereas the time people spend behind screens is time not spent being active, moving, being outside, or shutting down and relaxing, all of which are associated with physical and mental well-beingwhich may lead to limited cognitive ability; whereas adolescents who spend a small amount of time on electronic communication are generally the happiest; whereas people that stop using social media for a week experience significant improvements in well-being;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas on average, adolescent girls spend more time online, on smartphones, social media and texting than boys; whereas boys spend more time on gaming and electronic devices in general; whereas girls show a stronger association between screen time and poor mental health than boys and are more than twice as likely to have clinically relevant levels of depressive symptoms than boys; whereas addictive online services such as such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram are often targeted at minors;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the interfaces of some digital services exploit similar psychological vulnerabilities to those involved in an addiction to gambling; whereas addictive design features intentionally play into consumers’ vulnerabilities, making them spend much more time on applications and consuming more than intended; whereas platforms deploy gamification techniques, meaning behavioural design using game mechanics to reward the completion of tasks and giving users the illusion of choice and control, while being subjected to a deliberately highly curated timeline;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas addictive design features are often linked to psychosocial patterns playing on consumers’ psychological needs, vulnerabilities and desires, such as social belonging, social anxiety, fear of missing out (encouraged by information being available only temporarily, such as ‘stories’, ‘is typing…’), network effects, the urge to finish tasks in a flow, even if interrupted (endless scrolling, taking a number of seconds to load your newsfeed) and loss of self-control; whereas design features can be addictive for different reasons, such as an intermittent variable reward, leading to a dopamine surge, just like the dynamics of slot machines, such as push notifications, or social reciprocity leading to chemical brain reactions, where on the one hand people receive social gratification, such as likes, and on the other hand people feel social pressure to respond to people, such as with read-receipts; whereas children are more vulnerable to those features, especially in earlier developmental stages;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas addictive practices have been empirically studied and widely documented and include design features such as ‘infinite scroll’, ‘pull-to-refresh’ page reload, ‘never ending auto-play’ video features, personalised recommendations, ‘recapture notifications’, meaning notifications to regain users’ attention after leaving a service or app, ‘playing by appointment’ at certain moments during the day, design leading to ‘time fog’ causing a diluted perception of time or ‘fake social notifications’ creating the illusion of updates within the user’s social circle online, whereas such features are often to be found in conjunction with personalised elements and manipulate consumers into spending more time on these platforms; whereas other persuasive design features are elements are the ‘like-button’, ‘read- receipt functions’, ‘is typing’ displays, but also the number of followers collected on a platform, the colours platforms use, interaction-based recommendations and personalisation of content, push notifications and time restrictions of content, such as temporarily available stories;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas the addictive design features outlined above cannot be solved simply by imposing time-limits on online services, as this approach shifts the burden onto the individual instead of addressing the core issue of the intentionally addictive design of online services for profit; whereas none of the ‘solutions’ platforms have implemented have led to a serious change or decrease in usageaddictive design of online services; whereas teenagers do not readily accept parental regulation of their social media use and often find it easy to bypass any technical constraints imposed;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas the Digital Services Act (DSA) introduces provisions against the use of ‘dark patterns’ but these are limited to choice architecture and influences choices and do not address behavioural design that is addictive per se, moreover they are limited in scope as they only apply to online platforms, not to all online services; whereas the AI Act4 seeks to ban AI systems that deploy subliminal features but is limited to systems that ‘are purposefully manipulative or deploy deceptive techniques’; _________________ 4 Proposal for a regulation laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence (artificial intelligence act) (COM(2021)0206).which applies to online platforms, not to all online services;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Is alarmed that platforms and other tech companies exploit psychological vulnerabilities to design digital interfaces for commercial interests that maximise the frequency and duration of user visits, so as to prolong the use of online services and to create engagement with the platform; stresses that addictive design can cause psychological and material harm to consumers; calls on the Commission to urgently close existing regulatory gaps with regard to consumer vulnerabilities, dark patterns and addictive features of digital services;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that despite its legislative efforts in the digital field, such as the DSA or the AI Act, the issue of addictive design is not sufficiently covered in existing EU legislation, and if unaddressed could lead to fure strong EU legal framework in this area, such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) or the AI Act; recalls, that article 25 of the Digital Services Act (DSA) prohibits the providers of online platforms to design, organise or operate their deterioration inonline interfaces in a way that deceives or manipulates the area of public health, especially affecting minors; considers that if the topic gets furcipients of their service or in a way that otherwise materially distorts or impairs the ability of the recipients of their delayed, Parliament should use its right of legislative initiative; service to make free and informed decisions; calls on the Commission to adopt the respective guidelines;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Underlines that Article 27 of the Digital Services Act (DSA) already obliges providers of online platforms that use recommender systems to set out in their terms and conditions, in plain and intelligible language, the main parameters used in their recommender systems, as well as any options for the recipients of the service to modify or influence those main parameters; Further recalls that article 38 of Digital Services Act (DSA) imposes on providers of very large online platforms and of very large online search engines that use recommender systems shall provide at least one option for each of their recommender systems which is not based on profiling;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Amendment 83 #
3. Calls onWelcomes the Commission to present legislation against addictive design; urges the Commission in its review ofinitiative to assess whether action is needed to ensure an equal level of fairness online and offline; stresses that the Commission shall determine whether the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive5 (UCPD), Consumer Rights Directive6 and Unfair Contract Terms Directive7 (Fitness check) to pay particular attention to andensure a high level of protection in the digital environment, in particular whether they tackle the growing issues around the addictive and manipulative design of online services; _________________ 5 Directive 2005/29/EC of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market (OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, p. 22). 6 Directive 2011/83/EU of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights (OJ L 304, 22.11.2011, p. 64). 7 Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts (OJ L 95, 21.4.1993, p. 29).
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Recalls that the Commission behavioural study on unfair commercial practices in the digital environment has found that transparency provisions against dark patterns and manipulative personalisation practices both for average and vulnerable consumers are insufficient to counter the negative consequences; calls on the Commission to prohibit the most harmful practices, which are not yet blacklisted in Annex I of the UCPD or other EU legislation, and to impose a fair/neutral design obligation on traders;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Recalls that several dark patterns and manipulative practices are already prohibited in all Member States through the blacklist Annex I of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD); in addition, the principle-based Articles 5 to 9 of the UCPD concerning professional diligence, misleading omissions and actions, and aggressive practices provide a basis for assessing the fairness of most business-to-consumer practices; considers that any further remedies should de developed in close cooperation with businesses, including SMEs, users, academia, civil society, regulators, policymakers, and healthcare professionals;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls that the Commission assessment on taxonomies of dark patterns clarifies that certain addictive design features are not taken into account in the current legislation, including the infinite scroll and the default auto play function present in services such as YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify; stresses that other addictive design features such as interaction-based recommender systems, constant push notifications or read receipt notifications are not covered by existing legislation either; recalls that the Commission in its Guidance on the interpretation of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive expressed concern over uncertainty regarding the rules applicable to addictive interface design; underlines the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCDP) guidance in this regard and stresses the importance to keep it updated in view of technological developments;
Amendment 99 #
6. DemandConsiders that any revision of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive should take into account consumers’ susceptibility to the exploitation of the unequal power in the trader-consumer relationship resulting from internal and external factors beyond the consumer’s control; stresses that the autonomy of consumers should not be undermined by traders’ commercial practices, in particulargoes hand in hand with the autonomy of the trader, but that the design and operation of the interface should not undermine this autonomy;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Urges the Commission to promote and ensure ethical design of online services; calls on the Commission to create a list of good practices of design features that are not addictive or manipulative and ensure users are fully in control and can take conscious and informed actions online without facing an information overload; stresses that policy actions in this area should not place a burden on consumers but address the harm caused by the businesses; notes the best practices of ‘think before you share’, turning all notifications off by default, more neutral online recommendations, such as those based on chronological order or increased user-control, up-front choice between colour and greyscale apps, or warnings when users have spent more than 15 minutes or 30 minutes on a specific service; stresses that policy actions in this area should not place a burden on consumers, especially vulnerable users or their legal guardians, but address the harm caused by the addictive design;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Stresses the significant impact of addictive design on children and youngsters and calls on the Commission to make additional international efforts to promote regulateion of addictive design online in this regardat international level;