The Norwegian government wants to introduce a 15-year minimum age threshold for using social media to protect children from harmful content and “big tech giants”.
The Norwegian government announced that it wants to amend the country’s Personal Data Act protecting children from harmful content they may encounter online by setting an age limit of 15.
“It sends a pretty strong signal,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said on Wednesday (23 October) in an interview with VG, adding that it is about “big tech giants versus small children’s brains.”
At the moment, Norway’s Personal Data Act states that you must be 13 years old to consent to the collection and processing of personal data by social media. It is this law that the government wants to change.
“We know that this is an uphill battle, because there are strong forces here, but this is also where policy is needed,” Støre acknowledged, adding that there is a majority in the Norwegian parliament to push for the proposal.
Despite the current 13-year age limit, 53% of 9-year-olds, 58% of 10-year-olds and 72% of 11-year-olds use social media, according to the Norwegian Media Authority.
Therefore, the next step will be to push forward an age verification solution specifically for social media. Although this electronic control is not yet in place, the Norwegian Minister for Children and Families, Kjersti Toppe, is convinced that it will send a clear signal to parents, giving them the legal means to refuse to let their children end up on social media. “It is also about giving parents the security to say no. We know that many people really want to say no, but don’t feel they can,” she said.
According to Toppe, however, the Norwegian government is not exactly sure how they will enforce this, though bank verification ID has been suggested as a possible solution.
However, “if there is to be an age verification first, it must apply to everyone, and there are surprisingly many who do not have a bank ID”, Toppe said, adding that if there is to be an age verification, there cannot be large sections of the population who cannot use it.
Looking towards the EU
According to her, the Norwegian government is still looking for an alternative, citing the EU as a possible example.
“The EU is also coming up with some directives that could be a solution,” she said.
Protection of minors online is at the top of the EU’s digital agenda for the next mandate.
The enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA) is taking steps to protect minors from the perceived dangers of social media.
Addiction and cyberbullying are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s top concerns, specifically for minors.
Von der Leyen tasked Commissioner-designate Michael McGrath with proposing a Digital Fairness Act, to revamp consumer protection rules, particularly around the protection of minors.
One outstanding issue also for the EU is how to verify the age of users when using digital services. The EU Digital Wallet is being touted as a solution that could eventually become the de facto gold standard by the Commission.
Meanwhile France authorised age verification on pornographic websites through credit card checks for a temporary three months period.
[Edited by Rajnish Singh]
Source: euractiv.com
