§6.5.2 User control and empowerment

66. Providers of online platforms accessible to minors that use recommender systems, in the provision of their service should adopt the following measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security of minors: (a) Provide minors with the opportunity to reset their recommended feeds completely and permanently. (b) Within the prioritisation of parameters and metrics related to accuracy, diversity, inclusivity and fairness, provide information and nudge minors toward searching for new content after a certain amount of interaction with the recommender system. (c) Assess whether, in light of the specific features of the platform and in order to ensure a high level of privacy, safety, and security of minors on such platform, it considers it appropriate to ensure that minors can choose an option of their recommender system that is not based on profiling. This recommendation is without prejudice to the obligations of providers of VLOPs and VLOSEs under Article 38 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065. (d) In case that, as a result of the assessment referred to in the point above or as a result of the obligations stemming from Article 38 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 in relation to the providers of VLOPs and VLOSEs, they have put in place an option of their recommender system that is not based on profiling, assess whether this should be provided as a default setting and if they consider it appropriate, put in place the necessary safeguards and transparency measures to inform minors of such option and the potential consequences of turning off such default setting. (e) Ensure that relevant reporting and feedback mechanisms set out in Section 7.1 have a swift, direct and lasting impact on the parameters, editing and output of the recommender systems. This includes permanently removing reported content and contacts from recommendations (including content reported for hiding and blocked/reported contacts) and reducing the visibility of similar content and accounts. 67. In addition to the obligations set out in Article 27(1) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, and for providers of VLOPs and VLOSEs the enhanced due diligence obligations laid down in Articles 34, 35 and 38 of that Regulation, the Commission considers that providers of online platforms accessible to minors should: (a) Ensure that any settings and information provided to minors about their recommender systems, including but not limited to their Terms and Conditions, are presented in child-friendly and accessible ways, adapted to the age and evolving maturity of the child, and in a language they could understand (see Sections 6.4 on Online interface design and other tools and Section 8.4 on Transparency for more details). (b) Meaningfully explain why each specific piece of content was recommended to them, including information about the parameters used and the user signals collected for that specific recommendation. (c) Offer minors, in an accessible way and tailored to child-friendly language and design, the options to modify or influence the parameters of their recommender systems by, for example, allowing them to select content categories and activities they are most or least interested in including explanations in child-friendly language. This should be offered during the account creation process and regularly throughout the minor’s time on the platform. These preferences should directly influence the recommendations provided by the system, ensuring that they align more closely with the minor’s age and best interests (67).

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07