Social media and mental harms under the Digital Services Act

Numerous empirical studies indicate that social media use is correlated with, and sometimes might be causing, mental harms like addiction, anxiety and depression, or lowering of cognitive abilities. In 2023, the European Parliament called on the European Commission to introduce new rules to combat these problems. However, it might take years before such new laws are adopted and become applicable. In this article, we demonstrate how a law already in effect – the Digital Services Act – offers the Commission tools necessary to combat certain mental harms stemming from social media’s design and functioning within the ad-based business model. We show that the risk assessment and mitigation obligations addressed at the Very Large Online Platforms’ providers include three “mental goods:” the mental well-being of individuals, mental health (as a component of public health), and the fundamental right to mental integrity. This article offers elaboration and theorisation of these concepts to enable more effective application of the DSA’s requirements, both by providers engaging in risk assessment and the Commission serving as the enforcer.