Path for national social media bans

EU clears path for national social media bans

National governments increasingly ring the alarm about social media harms to minors’ health.

By Eliza Gkritsi

The European Commission on Monday said countries can implement their own national bans for minors on social media, in new guidelines under its powerful Digital Services Act.

The EU executive has been under pressure in recent months to roll out measures to protect minors online. National governments in France, Denmark, Spain and elsewhere have called for social media restrictions, with some criticizing the EU for not acting quickly enough.

France and the Netherlands have supported an outright ban of social media for minors under 15. Greece has said it thinks parental consent should be required for children under a certain age. Denmark, which currently helms work in the Council of the EU, is pushing for stronger EU-level actions.

Tech giant Meta has also come out suggesting legal restrictions that would require parents to consent for their kids being on social media below a certain age.

"Age verification is not a nice to have. It's absolutely essential," said Denmark's digital minister Caroline Stage Olsen, who presented the guidelines alongside the Commission's tech chief Henna Virkkunen.

The Commission's new guidelines for minor protection online seek to make sure platforms face a similar set of rules across Europe under the DSA, the bloc's landmark social media regulation. The guidelines are nonbinding and set the benchmark for companies to interpret requirements under the DSA.

The Commission on Monday also released technical specifications for an age verification app that could help verify if users are over 18 by using IDs and even facial recognition. The app is set to be tested in France, Greece, Spain, Italy and Denmark, five countries that are also pushing for restrictions and are working on their own age verification solutions.

EU countries can also use the app should they decide to implement national restrictions for social media use at a different age threshold, a senior Commission official said, granted anonymity to disclose details of the plan ahead of its release.

High-risk services like porn platforms and online alcohol shops are also recommended to verify users' ages.

"It's hard to imagine a world where kids can enter a store to buy alcohol, go to a nightclub by simply stating that they are old enough, no bouncers, no ID checks, just a simple yes, I am over the age of 18," but this is what "has been the case online for many years," said Stage Olsen.

Monday's guidelines cover how platforms should adapt their systems to better protect kids along a range of services.

The text suggested that platforms do not use browsing behavior in their recommender systems; that they turn off features like streaks and read receipts to decrease the addictiveness of platforms; that they set privacy and security by default in settings, for example making their accounts invisible to other users not in their networks; and that they consider turning off some features like camera access.

The guidelines follow a risk-based approach, meaning platforms can evaluate what possible threats they pose to minors and adopt measures accordingly.

Tech firms launched a last-minute lobbying push arguing that the guidelines still allow for cumbersome fragmentation.