App and “European digital identity card” would verify age on platforms. Deputies call for several measures, such as the prohibition of addictive practices, control of advertising and influencers and prohibition of rewards for being on social networks.
The European Parliament (EP) issued a report this Wednesday that calls for a minimum age of 16 years to access social networks without parental consent in the 27 countries of the European Union (EU) and mechanisms to comply with this rule.
In a plenary session in Strasbourg, France, MEPs approved with 483 votes in favor, 92 against and 86 abstentions the report that calls for more protection for minors when accessing social networks.
The document provides that minors can access social networks from their 13 yearsbut only with the consent of parents or legal guardians.
MEPs called on the European Commission to develop a digital application to verify age integrated into social media access platforms and a “European digital identity card”.
According to the report approved by the EP, these age verification mechanisms must be scrupulously followed and homogeneous across the EU, to protect minors from harmful and illegal content and networks of sexual predators. The document suggests that senior management of the main digital platforms could be held responsible for non-compliance with these rules, in particular with regard to measures to protect minors and age verification.
The European Parliament also called on the European Commission to demand the prohibition of addictive practices on social networks and that presets on these digital platforms that create dependency, such as infinite. Social networks like TikTok allow users to ‘scroll’ without reaching the ‘bottom’ of the platform.
At the same time, MEPs want social networks, and the companies behind these platforms, to control targeted advertising and influencer activity.
The EP also calls for prohibition of rewards for staying on social networks. Platforms like Twitch, a social network for live streaming primarily of video games, reward users who stay connected with downloadable digital content for video games. Rewards are typically awarded after between one and six hours of continuous viewing.
The European Parliament also warned of the danger of widespread use of generative artificial intelligenceparticularly in digital applications that are being used to create with minors, using, for example, girls’ faces placed digitally on women’s bodies, manipulating the children’s images without consent.
Generative artificial intelligence is also being used to replace real social interaction and there are reported episodes of children who, after prolonged conversations with artificial intelligence systems, ended up committing acts of violence against themselves or other people.
