Federal Council strengthens protection of young people on platforms

Context

TL;DR

• The Federal Council will decide on October 14, 2026.
• DETEC will prepare the dispatch by June 2027.
• The reporting will cover all presumably illegal content.

Key facts

• Date → October 14, 2026
• Location → Bern
• Project → Act on communication platforms and search engines (LPCom)
• Assignment → DATEC
• Deadline → end of June 2027
• Support → political parties, cantons, umbrella associations and national organizations
• Cooperation → DFI and UFAS
• Launch of the consultation → October 29, 2025

The preliminary draft must be supplemented with measures to protect young people. The reporting procedure must also be extended to all presumably illegal content. These are the two measures announced by the Federal Council after the consultation.

The project has garnered broad support, expressed by the majority of the parties represented in the Federal Assembly, the cantons, the umbrella associations and the national organizations. The dossier also refers to the press release of October 29, 2025 on the start of the consultation.

Rules for large platforms

The new LPCom aims to strengthen users' rights and require providers to be more transparent. The law would apply to major communication platforms and search engines, including AI-based search engines. Smaller services, however, would not be covered by the project.

Google, Facebook and YouTube are cited as examples of services that people turn to for information and to form an opinion. According to the press release, these platforms are increasingly influencing public debate.

The project provides that providers of communication platforms make available to users a simple procedure for reporting all presumably illegal content. In terms of youth protection, large platforms and search engines should assess the risks created or exacerbated by their services and adopt measures to reduce them. DATEC will be assisted by DFI and UFAS in drafting the provisions dedicated to young people.

Operational details

For those living in Switzerland, the decision mainly describes the direction the Federal Council intends future regulation to take. The press release refers to a preliminary draft and announces a dispatch from DETEC by the end of June 2027; it does not, however, announce the law's entry into force. The distinction is practical: the measures described belong to the project submitted for consultation and are not presented as obligations that are already applicable.

Users and providers: the possible change

If the project is taken forward in the indicated form, a user of a large communication platform will have a simple procedure for reporting presumably illegal content. The novelty therefore concerns the relationship between user and provider: the project gives importance to the possibility of reporting and to the transparency of the services.

The scope of application is selective. The proposal concerns large communication platforms and search engines, while smaller services should not be included. The mention of AI-based search engines expands the topic beyond social networks alone: the way information is searched for online also falls within the regulation outlined by the Federal Council.

For young people, the project shifts the focus to the organization of services. Providers will be required to analyze the extent to which their platforms create or exacerbate risks and to implement mitigation measures. The stated objective is not only safer use, but also consideration of young people's right to participate in public debate.

The ban on advertising is formulated precisely: it concerns ads based on profiling, that is, on analysis of young people's online behavior and personal characteristics. The press release does not describe a general ban on advertising. For this reason, the concrete effect will depend on the provisions that will be included in the dispatch and on the subsequent legislative process.

Key points

The dossier can be followed through four steps, without confusing the preliminary draft with an already defined law.

1. Establish the institutional phase. The reference date is 14 October 2026: at its meeting in Bern, the Federal Council took note of the results of the consultation and decided to retain the project, strengthening youth protection. This is the decision communicated; no date of entry into force is indicated.

2. Consult the document on the results. The official material includes the Report on the results of the consultation concerning the preliminary draft of the Federal Act on communication platforms and search engines, published on 14 October 2026. It is the reference indicated for reconstructing the positions that emerged during the procedure.

3. Note the next deadline. DETEC must prepare a dispatch by the end of June 2027. Those following federal politics can therefore check at that deadline how the provisions on reporting presumably unlawful content and youth protection will be formulated.

4. Separate the obligations by addressee. For users, the project provides for a simple reporting procedure with communication platform providers. For providers of large platforms and search engines, the text provides for risk assessment and mitigation measures. For young people, it also indicates a ban on profiling-based advertising. These elements should be read as measures of the preliminary draft until the dispatch has been prepared.

In preparing the rules on young people, DETEC will be supported by the Federal Department of Home Affairs, the FDHA, and the Federal Social Insurance Office, the FSIO. Their involvement is already indicated in the Federal Council's decision and represents the operational step planned to complete the project by the announced deadline.

Source: admin.ch