The European Commission referred at a press conference to a discussion on the protection of minors in the network, which accelerated after the Tuesday attack of a 14-year-old student on a tutor in a junior high school in the French Nogent.
President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday that France may prohibit access to social media to people under the age of 15 if the ban is not introduced at EU level within a few months.
European countries want to protect children from social platforms
Also, Denmark, which takes over on July 1 from Poland, semi -annual conductivity in the EU Council announced that the protection of minors on the web will be one of its priorities. This issue is to be devoted to the entire meeting of the ministers of the digitization of EU countries, scheduled for October 9-10.
– In accordance with the provisions of the general regulation on the protection of personal data (GDPR), member states may determine “digital adult” – reminded on Wednesday the spokesman of the EC Thomas Regnier.
Article 8 of the GDPR provides that digital platforms may not process the data of users who are under 16 years old. Member States, however, may reduce this border to a maximum of 13 years of age. Children below the established limit can still use platforms, but the consent of a parent or guardian is required.
In Poland, there are currently no provisions regulating this issue, which means that – theoretically – this age should be set at the level of 16 years of age. However, in the country, people who are at least 13 years old have access to most social media, including Facebook or Tiktok. Contrary to the provisions of the GDPR, they also do not have to obtain the consent of the guardian to set up an account, although they have limited to services offered by messengers.
“Blind scrolling” and addiction to children on smartphones. “I've been saying it for 15 years”
Studies show that social platforms also have a problem with the enforcement of their own regulations. According to the “Internet Children” report prepared by the Digital Citizenship Institute, 58 percent Children aged 7-12 actively use at least one social networking or messenger allowed from the age of 13. Every third child has regular access to the thicket, 24 percent – to Facebook, and 12 percent – To Instagram.
Social media deeply rooted in the everyday life of Internet users from Poland, Romania and Hungary. More and more of them use individual platforms compulsively and almost reflective – according to the latest Hoked on the Feed report. Analysis of How Facebook, Tiktok, and X Shape Information Consumption in Eastern Europe.
In turn, in the Polish study on FOMO (Fear of Missing Out, fear of missing) we read that 21 percent teenagers aged 15-19 in ours are addicted to smartphones, and 19 percent They intensively use social media.
A debate about smartphones in schools is also underway in Poland. Some European countries have completely banned them. “Pas” to electronic devices in educational institutions has already said, among others Italy, France, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands. – I have been saying for 15 years that you need to remove smartphones from schools. At the beginning I was treated like a strange, but now it is changing – describes in an interview with Onet world -famous psychiatrist prof. Anna Lembke.
