Safer Internet Day: These rules apply to young people

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Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Snapchat – Children and young people want to be just as involved in the social media world as adults. When mom and dad scroll through posts on their smartphones, children do the same. But special rules apply to them. This applies to data protection, for example, there are legal regulations. However, the platform providers also have to ensure that their services are not misused. Although it cannot be assumed that they do everything they can to protect children and young people, they at least have the issues of sexual abuse and bullying on their radar.

Regulations on age limits

In Germany, the Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media and the Youth Protection Act regulate access to social networks. However, they do not specify a specific age, but rather requirements. Depending on this, the providers of the platforms must introduce age restrictions. This is usually 13 years. However, for children under the age of 16, and in some cases also under the age of 18, their legal guardians must consent to their children being allowed to log in.

The GDPR also applies legally. This states that the personal data of children and young people is particularly worthy of protection. Specifically, this means that Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok and the like are not allowed to use young people's data to show them suitable, personalized advertising. However, this does not mean that the data cannot be analyzed at all. It may be used for other purposes.

Social media controls age

And how do the platforms check that no younger children are signing up? Not that easy. There is no way to identify yourself or prove that you are old enough. In fact, nobody wants to have to show their ID details to social network providers.

However, the platform operators can still find out quite well how old someone is – by monitoring their behavior. Artificial intelligence helps with the analysis. Instagram and Facebook check how old the friends are, what their interests are, what their general behavior is like. If Tiktok believes that someone is not old enough, for example, the account is blocked – and an objection can be lodged. This sometimes involves uploading a photo of yourself with a parent, for example, according to a Tiktok help page.

As this is not necessarily the last word in preventing abuse, Snapchat clearly states that it is looking into alternatives and is "in favor of an industry-wide practical solution".

Usage restrictions for children

In order to protect children and young people, providers have also placed restrictions on use. At Tiktok, for example, you can only start a livestream from the age of 18. Under-18s should not watch any content that is not suitable for minors. As with all platforms, there are filters so that you or your parents can block unwanted content. This can be done both in the settings and via the content itself, which can be rated using a three-point menu. AI also helps here to only display age-appropriate content.

Instagram also regulates who can write to whom. Older people over the age of 19 are not allowed to contact young people under the age of 18 via direct message. The content displayed is also automatically adapted to the age. In addition, the accounts are not visible to the public for the time being.

On Snapchat, you can only write to people you are friends with on the network or who are saved in the contacts on your smartphone. Friend lists are always set to private, so you can't see them. This should make it harder to find young people on the platform. Snapchat also wants to minimize social pressure. This means, for example, envy and feelings of inferiority due to other people's lists. If a stranger posts, a warning appears that it is better to only post with people you know.

Snapchat is the only service to offer location sharing for friends. This is initially deactivated by default for young people. With manual sharing, sharing is only possible with people they are friends with.

Accompanied mode

Both smartphones and various apps offer a supervised mode. This means that parents remain in charge and can keep an eye on what their children are doing. This includes content that they can also see. On Instagram and Tiktok, for example, you can exclude individual words that children are not allowed to search for.

YouTube can only be used from the age of 18 – but there is a separate service for children and young people called YouTube Kids. Of course, this does not mean that you always have to register with YouTube to watch videos. As is well known, this is also possible without registration and therefore without an age rating. The only thing that can help here is enabling or restricting the smartphone.

In restricted mode, it is usually also possible to set usage times. This includes the time at which a child or young person may use an app, but also the duration. In principle, parents are responsible for their children, even if they are already teenagers. They should talk to them about the dangers of social networks. No app in the world can do that.

(emw)