Learning Call: Can the EU Regulate the Attention Economy?

The Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) invites you to a new series of learning calls on current topics related to the DSA, organised by the DSA Observatory. The series is a collaboration between HIIG, the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) and the DSA Observatory, with the support of the Network of Centres (NoC). This online event will be held in English. It is part of the DSA Research Network, which is funded by Stiftung Mercator.

This Learning Call, part of an ongoing series on current issues surrounding the Digital Services Act (DSA), examines the EU’s evolving approach to regulating recommender systems and harmful design practices on online platforms.

The pervasiveness of short-form video feeds and increasingly sophisticated algorithmic personalisation have supercharged platforms’ business models built around maximising engagement and monetising our attention. These developments have also raised public concerns about privacy, addictive use, and the amplification of harmful content, particularly among children.

EU regulators are responding with a growing arsenal of legal instruments. The DSA already prohibits certain dark patterns and imposes obligations concerning recommender systems within its transparency and systemic risks framework. The newly proposed KIDS Act targets addictive features such as infinite scrolling and reward mechanisms, as well as the design of recommender systems, with the aim of protecting minors. Meanwhile, the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act (DFA) proposal promises broader consumer safeguards against harmful design practices.

Considering this regulatory context, speakers will examine the practical and conceptual challenges of regulating dark patterns, what platforms’ risk assessments reveal about their approach to mitigating addiction risks, and what recent enforcement proceedings and private litigation can tell us about the DSA’s practical application to recommender systems and interface design.

Ultimately, the session asks what interventions can meaningfully challenge the underlying incentives driving platforms to maximise engagement at the expense of users’ (and not only children’s) well-being. Is the EU’s current regulatory approach up to the task? And can it keep pace with the new (and dreadful) possibilities for manipulation and dependency introduced by generative AI?