The European Parliament proposed on Wednesday prohibit free access of minors under 16 years of age to social networks in the European Union to counteract “the physical and psychological risks” to which children and adolescents are exposed.
In a non-binding report adopted by a large majority in plenary session in Strasbourg, MEPs call for “set the harmonized minimum age in the EU to access social networks at 16 yearsto video-sharing platforms and AI, while allowing access for young people aged 13 to 16 with parental consent.”
Likewise, they recommend prohibit the most addictive and dangerous practices for minorslike the pull to refreshwhich involves swiping down on a device’s screen to refresh a page, or reward systems.
Sites that do not respect European regulations should also be banned, they stressed.
They put pressure on the platforms
This minimum age proposal, or digital majority, pressure increases on platformsjust when the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyenbegan a reflection on the convenience of establishing such a measure at EU-wide level.
A panel of experts must give Von der Leyen, herself in favor of such bans, recommendations before the end of the year.
Harmonization at European level would limit the dispersion of national standards and ensure consistent protection of the minors.
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The text also calls for “urgent action to respond to the ethical and legal challenges posed by generative AI tools, including deepfakeslos company chatbotslos AI agents and the AI powered nudity apps“.
According to studies cited in the report, 97% of young people connect to the internet every day and 78% of adolescents ages 13 to 17 check their device at least once an hour.
At the same time, one in four minors has cell phone use described as “problematic or dysfunctional”, that is, similar to a dependency.