EU Commission proposes under-13s social media ban

STRASBOURG, France, September 19 ------ European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen set out a sweeping plan to keep children safe from online dangers, proposing to ban under-13s from social media and require online services to design safe children’s accounts.

The move follows similar initiatives in Australia, Britain, China, India, Turkey and several EU countries underscoring rising concerns about the impact Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, TikTok, Google’s YouTube, and ChatGPT have on children’s mental health and safety.

Australia’s challenges in enforcing its world-first social media ban for children under 16 however could see Europe facing an uphill battle as well. “Today, our children are engaging with some of the most sophisticated technologies ever created, and it was not created with children’s well-being and development in mind,” von der Leyen told a press conference. She said the proposed EU Kids Act “will set clear boundaries in the digital world just as we do it on a daily basis in the real world”.

Under the proposal, which will need to be negotiated with EU countries and the European Parliament in the coming months before it can become law, accounts for children between 13 and 15 will be under parental control.

Social media and video-sharing services, online video games, AI companions, and chatbots for children below 18 will be subject to a list of dos and don’ts. These include a ban on addictive features, profiling-based recommender feeds, infinite scroll, reward tricks, and unsolicited contact from strangers. AI companions and chatbots must be turned off by default.

Online platforms must design algorithms safe for children and provide easy-to-use parental controls and tools to block and mute users.

Source: rappler.com