Report from Reuters
In Brief – The European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution calling for a harmonized minimum age of 16 across the EU for access to social media platforms, video-sharing sites, and AI-driven tools such as chatbots. EU member states currently have the authority to set minimum age limits. However, the parliament’s vote of 438 to 92 signals strong support for tougher online teen standards. The resolution urges member states to set 16 as the default minimum age for social media and AI chatbots, while allowing 13- to 16-year-olds to access platforms with verified parental consent. It also recommends banning engagement-based recommendation algorithms and restricting so-called “addictive” design features like infinite scroll and autoplay. The parliament is also calling for the development of accurate, privacy-preserving age-verification methods, including the planned use of the European Digital Identity (eID) wallet to support trusted age-verification frameworks, and for stricter rules on AI tools capable of generating deepfakes or nudity-related content.
Context – European Commission President von der Leyen had already said that the Commission will explore a social media age limit and announced a five-country pilot of an age verification app. In addition, the Digital Fairness Act, upcoming updates to the DSA, and other AI-specific frameworks are likely to adopt similar themes of child safety, algorithm transparency, and ethical design. Online age verification is on the march globally, with Australian leaders proudly defending their leadership as being the most aggressive. Not only is their age 16 threshold for social media accounts in place without exceptions, but age checks are also coming to general search services like Google to protect minors from online porn and sexually explicit material. The UK Online Safety Act is being used to expand online age verification along a similar rubric of porn, social media, and game sites with social features. In the US, the Supreme Court ruled that age check mandates were acceptable for porn sites and states are rapidly attempting to expand them to social media.