Austrian government wants to enforce age limits in social networks
A rampage by a 21-year-old gives Austria's politicians the idea of excluding children from social networks. But this time for real.
Computer yes, social networks no
(Image: Daniel AJ Sokolov)
After a 21-year-old shot and killed eleven people at a school in Graz, Austria's federal government wants to keep children out of social networks. “(We will) also campaign for stricter rules for children and young people when dealing with social media,” said Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker (ÖVP) on Monday in his government statement on the shooting rampage. “Because we see: Digital platforms are no longer just places for information or entertainment. They can also be places of radicalization and brutalization. We need clear rules and clear responsibility for platform operators.” The German government has also called for effective age limits for social media.
Austrian State Secretary Alexander Pröll (ÖVP), who is responsible for digitalization, would like to “oblige platforms to comply with their age restrictions. They have to act as gatekeepers for young people, so to speak, and we will find a national solution in Austria.” He said this on the ORF radio program Ö1 Mittagsjournal on Tuesday. The method of enforcement has not been clarified. Pröll is open to the idea of linking accounts in social networks with the state electronic identity ID, Austria.
13, 14, 15, 16 – Who bids higher?
The exact age limit that should apply has also not yet been decided. The major operators themselves have set 13 or 14 years, but do not strictly enforce this. “I'm just saying: the GDPR stipulates that data for under 14-year-olds may not actually be processed,” believes State Secretary Pröll. At the EU Digital Ministers' Conference in Luxembourg, Spain, France, and Greece advocated an EU-wide ban on social networks for children under the age of 15, while Spain is calling for it for under-16s.
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Norway is planning to raise the minimum age from 13 to 15 and expand age verification structures. In Australia, the exclusion of people under 16 from social networks is already a done deal. The opposition Austrian Greens also want this. They also want to make platform operators liable for all content.
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