The “strict implementation of legislation to protect minors from the dissemination of online content which may have a negative and irreversible effect on their health“, calls for the “strict implementation of legislation to protect minors from the dissemination of online content which may have a negative and irreversible effect on their health”, calls for the MEP and spokesperson of the New Democracy Group, Dimitris Tsiodras, in a question to the European Commission.

Specifically, he asks the Commission how it intends to address the proliferation and rapid spread of phenomena such as the “Skinnytok challenge” on social media and how effective the platforms’ efforts are to ensure that minors have access to educational content on healthy eating and eating disorders.

Tsiodras also notes that “platforms and social media enable the dissemination of content that can have a negative and irreversible effect on the health of minors, and that “along with other campaigns, the recent ‘Skinnytok challenge’ pushes minors to abstain from eating for prolonged periods and promotes the pattern of extreme weight loss.”

Furthermore, it underlines that “this poses a risk, as this campaign may harm the health and physical development of a large number of minors”, adding that “access to such content spreads very quickly and is found in hundreds of thousands of posts”.

It concludes by asking the Commission whether the dissemination of such content constitutes, under the Digital Services Act, a “systemic risk” and, therefore, very large platforms must – in this case too – apply the provisions of the Act on the management of such risk, such as identifying, assessing and mitigating such risks.