Gawkowski: Freedom of speech on the Internet should not be ruthless

Freedom of speech on the Internet should not be ruthless; You have to fight pathology, theft of identity and pedophile acts – said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digitization Krzysztof Gawkowski. He noted that you can't turn your eyes on the network, because he would not disappear.

On Monday, the premiere of the sixth edition of the NASK report “Teens”, a study showing digital practices of Polish youth. It shows that 70 percent Teenagers use artificial intelligence, and every tenth use it every day. In addition to AI, social networking sites, games with games and pornography are the most popular.

– Based on these research, analyzes and statistics, we can create concepts, programs that counteract various types of pathologies, but also give joy from the Internet and new technology that surrounds a young man – said the minister of digitization Krzysztof Gawkowski during the debate.

He pointed out that “40 percent of young people under the age of tenth use the phone” and that “more often they use new technologies at home than at school.”

“It shows that there are no simple solutions, we don't take phone calls and the matter has been solved,” he said.

He said that 7 out of 10 teenagers use AI tools.

– This strengthens their dissatisfaction with school, because they see that it does not keep up, because they have better tools, a faster opportunity to check knowledge on the language model than at school, when the teacher passes it – said the minister.

He noted that “these are the challenges we have to face.” He pointed out that in some environments, even three quarters of second graders and third graders have a telephone, and “contact with pornography is on average at the age of 11”. Therefore, young people are increasingly exposed to cyberbullying, hate, to various types of violence, which is everyday life.

“You can't cling to it, saying that it will be solved somehow,” Gawkowski emphasized.

According to him “Freedom of speech should not be ruthless on the Internet, because you have to fight what we call pathology, identity theft, pedophile acts, sending illegal content, what, for example, human trafficking means for me.”

– It is not that the pathology will disappear, because for some reason we have introduced the Penal Code, because we have a constitution regulating all elements of human legal life in society, we have a family and guardianship code or even a road code. In this respect, we must also enter regulations. The Internet cannot be free from the fact that we will limit some things there – said Gawkowski.

He also pointed out that the average interaction with the topic on the web are currently hours, not days or weeks.

The “Teens” study in edition 2024 was conducted from September to October 2024 using the CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) technique. In total, 3,655 full surveys were collected (from grades VII and VIII of primary schools as well as grades and second secondary schools) and 918 sets of answers from parents and legal guardians, from 160 schools located in all 16 voivodships. (PAP)

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