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The European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, pledged to curb social media access to protect children earlier this week. Her comments came after an EU-appointed expert group called for restrictions for under-13s.
She warned that “the status quo, a world where we continue to allow big tech unrestricted access to our children, will only consign another generation to more mental harm, addiction and misery.”
While the bloc’s executive branch has not specified a minimum age, von der Leyen did note that she was convinced by the “staged approach” to internet use, a recommendation by the panel that consisted of doctors, academics, youth representatives and parents.
A draft proposal is expected from the Commission in the autumn.
But how practical is such an age restriction? And how can Brussels balance child safety and privacy?
To delve into this complex discussion, Euronews’ podcast Brussels, My Love? sat down with Sara Brandstätter, tech reporter at MLex; Jean Cattan, co-director of the think tank Future Technology Institute; and Simeon de Brouwer, digital policy advisor from the international advocacy group European Digital Rights (EDRi).
Restriction alone is not enough
Brandstätter noted that the length of the long-awaited report published by the expert group — it was 156 pages long — shows the complexity of the matter at hand, and that it is not straightforward.
“Looking more closely at the report, it becomes clear that the experts who have written this also agree that a blank social media ban isn’t really the answer, or at least it’s not the only answer to the issue they are trying to solve here.”
In Australia, the first country in the world to ban users under 16 from social media, the approach is centred around restricting access, but a recent study showed young people could easily circumvent the country’s ban primarily by exploiting weak age-verification checks.
For this reason, the EU expert group is also putting forward a sweeping “safe by design” approach that would shift the responsibility onto platforms to prove their products are safe for young users.
“This means providing safe social networks to everyone as a default, not only to children, and that only those who want to have access to certain, I would say, toxic features would have to go through an age verification process,” Cattan said.
De Brouwer noted that ensuring continued safe access was highlighted as a priority for the panel’s experts. “They want to allow young people to access online spaces. They just want to force online spaces to be safe first.”
Addressing concerns
This safety-by-design feature would limit the number of users having to prove their age, addressing privacy concerns regarding how robust age verification technologies may infringe on users’ fundamental right to privacy.
Despite the combination of the safety-by-design features and the social media age restrictions, the EU report was met with criticism.
Among others, concerns are rising regarding the “social media plus” concept, with the panel’s experts recommending that the restrictions include other platforms that use features similar to social media, such as video games or AI chatbots.
De Brouwer recognised that it is important to include these technologies “because the harms that may occur online don’t stop at social media”, but questioned where the limits of this restriction lie, and whether proof of age as a prerequisite to access platforms is constructive.
“The question is not about whether under-13s should have access to social media, AI companions, video games, but whether identifying yourself, proving yourself to be of a certain age or having the documents or technology to prove that should be a precondition for accessing online spaces, whether these spaces are for entertainment, seeking information or expressing yourself,” he said.
“That, for me, is the question. Therefore, the fact that this scope is less reassuring because if we introduce mandatory age notification for ‘social media plus ‘, the question is, where does it stop?”
Brandstätter said finding the balance between child safety and overall privacy will be the biggest challenge for Brussels.
“There’s really strong political will on the one hand to protect children, but then these proposed tools raise major questions about privacy, encryption, and surveillance,” she explained.
She added that the question of how people’s age will be checked if an age restriction is implemented “will definitely come up after the summer in September, and I think it will keep us all busy for quite some time.”
For more on that, make sure you keep following Brussels, My Love?, and listen to the full episode in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
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