How do you protect minors online? The EC asks Snapchat, YouTube, Apple Store and Google Play

The European Commission has asked four online platforms: Snapchat, YouTube, Apple Store and Google Play for information on how they protect minors. This concerns age verification and the issue of access to e.g. e-cigarettes or content promoting eating disorders.

A high level of protection for children on the Internet is enshrined in the EU Digital Services Act (DSA). On this basis, in July this year The EC issued guidelines on protection, including a recommendation that platforms introduce age verification methods. This is to limit children and teenagers' access to adult content such as pornography and gambling.

EC spokesman Thomas Regnier said on Friday that, for example, in Denmark, half of children aged 10-11 have access to Snapchat. As he pointed out, this is against the regulations of this platform. – In France, almost half of 11-year-olds have access to YouTube and use it every day. Also in this case, it is against YouTube's regulations – he said.

According to Regnier App Store and Google Play app stores are widely used by children under 13 years of age.

“Again, this is against their terms and conditions, so we suspect there is a real problem with age verification policies on these platforms,” he said.

The EC wants to find out from Snapchat how it verifies whether, in accordance with the platform's regulations, it is not used by children under 13 years of age. It demands more detailed information from YouTube about its recommendation system for reporting harmful content distributed to minors.

In turn, Google Play and Apple Store are to answer questions about the possibility of downloading e.g. gambling applications and tools for creating sexual content, the so-called “nudify” application. The Commission is also trying to understand how both app stores apply age ratings to apps.

From Brussels Magdalena Cedro (PAP)

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