Digital age of majority: Meta supports EU-wide age restriction
More control for parents, but no social media ban. Meta supports ideas for an EU-wide "digital age of majority".
(Image: Koshiro K/Shutterstock.com)
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has signaled its support for proposals for a uniform digital age of majority in the EU member states. The company is responding to an initiative by France, Spain and Greece, which are promoting the concept. At the same time, Meta wants to take the wind out of the sails of proponents of bans.
The three countries are proposing the introduction of an EU-wide age limit for digital maturity. Below this threshold, minors would need parental consent to register on social media platforms. In addition, age verification and youth protection systems for internet-enabled devices are to be integrated.
Meta: Introduce not only for social media
"We believe this can be an effective solution to the industry-wide challenge of ensuring teens have safe, age-appropriate experiences online," Meta said in a newsroom post. At the same time, surveys have shown that parents and guardians are also in favor of such a solution. The company emphasizes that such regulations should not only concern social media platforms, but also gaming, streaming, messaging and browsing. According to Meta's findings, teenagers use an average of 40 apps per week.
Meta advocates age verification at app store or operating system level. "I think it makes much more sense for this to be done at the ecosystem, app store or operating system level", explained Tara Hopkins, Global Director of Public Policy at Instagram. Such an age status could then be shared across multiple apps and also influence whether apps from app stores can be downloaded at all. Apple, for example, has already integrated an API for developers into its parental control functions, which, following parental approval, passes on to apps the respective age range a child is in. Nevertheless, Google and Apple are opposed to the idea of transferring responsibility to them.
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Against a government ban
Meta's support is linked to the hope that this will prevent government social media bans. Such a ban, which applies to under-16s, has already been introduced in Australia. These would "undermine parental authority and focus narrowly on one type of online service", Meta said. Support for an EU-wide digital age of majority is not an endorsement of such bans.
(mki)
