Italian senators unveiled a draft bill on Wednesday designed to address what lawmakers described as social media addiction, shifting legal scrutiny onto the architectures that determine what users see online.
The measure, introduced with support from the opposition Democratic Party (PD), would impose new obligations on online platforms by preventing user profiling as a default setting and forcing firms to disclose how their algorithms select and rank content for users.
The proposal arrives as digital platforms face intensifying examination across Europe, and after a recent U.S. court decision that found Meta and Alphabet’s Google negligent for designing social media products judged harmful to young people. The draft law frames algorithmic choices not as incidental technical details but as corporate decisions with social effects.
"Every time we open a social network, an algorithm decides what we see - not by chance, but to keep us glued to the screen for as long as possible," PD Senator Antonio Nicita said in a statement. The draft text states that "algorithmic design is not a technical detail. It is a corporate choice with consequences," and aims to assign responsibility to platforms for the design of the systems they use to distribute content.
There was no immediate reaction from members of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's conservative coalition. Nicita, who previously served at the communications regulator Agcom, expressed optimism that the proposal could draw support beyond party lines, noting that there is currently consensus on restricting certain practices affecting minors.
Nicita emphasized that the pivotal concern is how algorithms are built rather than the individual items of content that circulate on networks. In addition to the PD draft, the co-ruling League party has tabled a separate plan that would bar children under 14 from using social media, mirroring measures adopted or under consideration in other countries.
The two legislative moves reflect different approaches: one focused on platform design and transparency, the other on an explicit age-based prohibition. At this stage, the bills are proposals and their future trajectory through parliamentary debate, amendment and possible enactment remains to be determined.
Impacted sectors: Online platforms and digital advertising; technology firms operating social networks; regulatory and legal services.