The lawmaker push adds to growing momentum for EU-wide action to ban social media use for children. — Photo by Sanket Mishra on Unsplash
BRUSSELS: European lawmakers on Thursday called for stricter rules to protect minors online, including a bloc-wide minimum age of 16 to access social media and AI companions without parental consent.
In a report adopted by the European Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, lawmakers recommended that no child under 13 be allowed to access social media, with or without parental permission.
They also called for fines and bans on platforms that flout the bloc's rules on protecting minors under the Digital Services Act (DSA), as concerns soar over the impact of online technologies on children's mental health and safety.
"We need a higher bar for access to social media," said the Danish EU lawmaker Christel Schaldemose, who led the initiative. "Secondly, we need stronger safeguards for minors using online services."
To curb access to harmful content, lawmakers backed banning engagement-based algorithms for minors, disabling addictive design features and prohibiting gambling-like mechanisms such as loot boxes in games accessible to children.
The report said platforms should also be barred from monetising or incentivising so-called "kidfluencing" – minors acting as influencers, the report said.
Adopted in committee by a wide majority, the proposal will be put to a vote by the full parliament during its plenary session between November 24 and 27.
The lawmaker push adds to growing momentum for EU-wide action to ban social media use for children – going beyond the bloc's already stringent rules regulating the digital space.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen personally supports such a move, with an expert panel to report back by year end on what steps could be taken at the EU level.
Twenty-five of the EU's 27 countries alongside Norway and Iceland this month signed a declaration backing von der Leyen's plans to study a potential bloc-wide digital majority age, and stressing the "pressing need" to shield minors online. – AFP
