“So-called social networks thrive on stealing our children’s time, childhood and well-being, and we are now putting an end to this,” says the Danish government. It was not immediately clear how such a ban would be enforced.
The Danish government announced on Friday a historic agreement in the country’s parliament and the support of the main parties for a measure aimed at prohibit access to social networks for children with less than 15 years old.
The measure was conceived as a way of intensify the pressure on the main technological platforms in a context of growing global concern about the influence of harmful content and commercial exploitation aimed at young users.
Although the new legislation allows parents, after a specific assessmentauthorize access to their 13 and 14 year old children, significant questions remain regarding practical application of such a comprehensive ban.
Many technology companies haveage restrictions are imposed on their platforms, however authorities and experts widely recognize that these measures are often circumvented by pre-teens, rendering them largely ineffective.
This measure represents one of the most comprehensive stepss given by a European Union government to restrict the use of social networks among younger age groups, notes the .
Caroline StageDanish Minister for Digital Affairs, highlighted the omnipresent nature of online platforms among children, revealing that 94% of Danes under 13 and more than half of children under 10 already have profiles on social media.
“A amount of time they spend online, the amount of violenceof self-harm that they are exposed to online, simply represents too great a risk for our children”, said Minister Stage.
The minister also criticized the technological giantsadding that “they have a absurd amount of money availablebut are simply not willing to investing in the safety of our childreninvesting in the safety of all of us.”
Stage adds that the ban will not take effect immediately. The deputies allies on this issue, coming from across the political spectrumwhich constitute a majority in parliament, will probably take months to approve the relevant legislation.
“I can guarantee that we will hurry, but we won’t do it too quickly because we need to ensure that the regulations are correct and that there is no loopholes through which technological giants can escaper”, said the minister.
Denmark is not the first country to take a radical measure to protect minors in their exposure to social media. In December, the Australia became the social network for children, having established the minimum age of 16 years.
The measure implies that platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram are subject to fines of up to 28 million euros if they systematically fail to prevent the creation of accounts by minors under 16 years of age.
Danish authorities did not specify whether such a ban would be applied in a world where millions of children have easy access to screens.
However, Stage points out that Denmark has a national identification system electronics, which almost all Danish citizens over the age of 13 have, and plans to create an age verification app. Several other EU countries are testing such applications.
“We can’t force tech giants to use our app, but what we can do is force tech giants to do a check of appropriate age, and if they do not, we may apply sanctions through the European Commission and guarantee that they will be fined up to 6% of their global income”.
“We gave tech giants so many opportunities to stand up and do something about what is happening on their platforms. They didn’t“, said Stage. “So now let’s take matters into our own hands and make sure our children’s future is secure.”
“The so-called social networks thrive by stealing time, childhood and the well-being of our children. We are now putting an end to this“, concluded the Danish minister.
