Report from The Local Norway
In Brief – Norway’s Minister of Children and Families says that the country’s planned social media ban for children under 16 will target “harmful platforms” beyond social media, including messaging platforms like Snapchat and gaming platforms like Roblox. In April, the government announced plans to introduce legislation by year-end prohibiting children from using social media until the year they turn 16 and making technology companies responsible for age verification. The government now says that the new regime will apply to all types of platforms that expose young users to harmful content. “Today there are certain platforms that present themselves as games but in fact are full of features such as algorithmic recommendation systems and illegal advertising targeting children,” said Minister for Children and Families Lene Vågslid. The minister said TikTok, Roblox and Snapchat would likely fall under the legislation but did not identify other potentially affected services.
Context – Age-based social media restrictions, led by Australia’s 16-year-old age limit, are taking off around the world. France was a first mover in Europe and other member states have followed. Free-speech concerns are a nagging issue in some jurisdictions, and the French Constitutional Court has struck down that country’s 15-year-old age limit. The European Commission is considering a multi-tiered regime that eschews a simple Australia-style age cut-off and is more in-line with Brazil’s Digital Statute of Children and Adolescents. One unique aspect of the Norwegian plan is to have teen age cohorts collectively gain access to prohibited platforms on January 1 of the calendar year they turn 16, so teens don’t get rolling access to social media based on individual birthdays in the cases where they don’t choose to just circumvent the limits like appears to be the case for many in Australia. Currently, gaming platforms are not covered by the Australian age limit regime, but its eSafety Commissioner is pushing Roblox and other game platforms to enforce the country’s Online Safety Act.