EU plan for social media: Parents should approve teenagers' contacts beforehand

“This technology,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday in Strasbourg, “was not developed with the safety of children in mind.” Therefore it is “now time to act”. By “this technology” von der Leyen meant social media platforms and by “action” the EU Kids Act, which she presented together with Vice President Henna Virkkunen.

On 99 pages, the draft law makes a proposal as to how platforms such as Tiktok or Instagram, which, like Facebook, belong to the Meta Group, should be obliged to provide more protection for minors. The key points had already become known on Wednesday: no accounts for under-13s, limited access up to 15 years of age. Virkkunen explained exactly what this “safety by design” – i.e. the child-free accounts – should look like: Parents should manage “mini accounts” for their children. Parents must approve contacts in advance and services must set a time limit of a maximum of one hour per day.

“We’re putting parents back in the driver’s seat,” said von der Leyen, but at the same time we’re taking away their responsibility. Because they “cannot win the fight against the algorithms”. The tech companies should therefore now take responsibility – in principle for all accounts of minors up to 18 years of age. Infinite scrolling, geolocation, camera and microphone access should be disabled by default. Direct messages from third-party accounts should no longer be possible. AI chatbots and companions must be disabled.

Minors would only have access if these and other criteria were met. Virkkunen emphasized that the EU already has a law to enforce these rules against platforms with the Digital Services Act. In the future, the commission should complete investigations within 90 days if there is suspicion of rule violations. The Kids Act is intended to regulate this “supplementally”.

However, the point of criticism remains that if the plans are implemented, age verification would be necessary for all users. “This is a measure that would affect freedom of information and freedom of expression at its core,” criticizes Stephan Dreyer, who researches at the Leibniz Institute for Media Research, according to the Science Media Center. If only certain individual functions are the problem from a youth protection perspective, that does not justify an age limit for the entire offering.

Dreyer warns against underestimating the “fundamental rights requirements for reliable, data protection-sensitive and widely accepted age verification for all citizens”. Due to numerous problems with the corresponding verification procedures, IT researchers spoke out against the use of such technologies in an open letter in March.

It becomes even more sensitive for parents who want to create a protected account for their children. The platforms are intended to ensure that a person with legal custody actually creates an account for the child in question. According to the draft law, a self-declaration should initially be sufficient, but the platform should then make “appropriate efforts” to ensure that this self-declaration is correct. However, the option of access to government data from the member countries is also planned.

After the draft law has been presented, it will now go to the EU Parliament and the member states. CDU Education Minister Karin Prien has already announced a “transitional solution” for Germany. According to her, the draft is “very much in line with the line that we also want to advance in Germany”.