STRASBOURG: The European Union is set to propose curbing access to social media, video-sharing platforms, chatbots, and online games to children under the age of15, according to a draft legal document.
A proposed new law to be formally presented Thursday would mean banning minors under 15 from opening their own accounts, with a tiered system of access under parental supervision for younger children.
As well as age limits, the new ‘EU KIDS Act’ would force digital giants to make their platforms ‘safe by design’ for children, meaning certain ‘addictive’ features such as so-called infinite scrolling would have to be removed, the draft showed.
The European Commission has comeunder pressure from several EU member states including France and Greece to take bloc-wide measures to protect children from social media harms, a push that intensified after Australia banned under 16s from such platforms. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen will provide a glimpse of what to expect from the new law on Wednesday, during her annualaddress to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
She will then join EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen the following day to present the proposal, which according to the draft would ban addictive features such as endless scrolling, artificial notifications, and some reward features for children. The Commission refused to comment on details of the draft.-AFP