The government also plans to introduce a new compulsory subject in schools called to help students distinguish between truth and lies.
Austria will prohibit access to social networks for children under 14 years of age after long negotiations within the government coalition, the Executive announced last Friday (27).
“It’s practically impossible for parents to control children’s consumption on these platforms, which are designed to make them deliberately dependent”, said the government’s number two, Andrea Babler, at a press conference.
The government also intends to introduce a new mandatory subject in schools called “Media and Democracy” to help students distinguish between truth and lies, as well as detect attempts to negatively influence democracyaccording to the proposal.
Several European Union countries, such as France, Spain and Denmark, have announced their intention to establish a minimum age for the use of social networks.
Australia was the first country to adopt such a measure. Since December 10, children under 16 have been banned from accessing platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok or Facebook, among others.
Technology companies can face fines of 49.5 million dollars Australians (34 million US dollars, 178 million reais) if they do not adopt “reasonable measures” to restrict the use of the applications.
*AFP
