Report from Politico
In Brief – French President Emmanuel Macron has said that he supports setting an age limit of 15 for social media platforms in the European Union, and if the EU doesn’t follow through, his government will set that age standard in France. The policy call came in the wake of a deadly stabbing of a school aide allegedly carried out by a 14-year-old student in a middle school in eastern France, the latest in a string of knife attacks. The President is also calling for setting an age limit for the purchase of knives online. Macron says that digital platforms are capable of doing age verification and therefore, “Let’s do it.” France is requiring online porn sites to use technical age verification to enforce an 18-year-old age limit, and the government is considering imposing the requirement on social media platforms that allow pornographic content to circulate.
Context – Regulating digital platforms to “protect” teenagers from online harms is a global phenomenon. Porn sites and social media platforms are the most popular targets. The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) regulates how digital platforms address a wide range of objectionable online content, including harm to young people, and the European Commission is investigating social media giants TikTok and Meta for a range of DSA issues, including failing to protect young users. However, the Commission believes that a blanket social media age limit would be a national, not EU-wide policy. In the UK, Ofcom is proposing that adult sites use approved age verification technology as of this July. They are also requiring social media sites to “consistently enforce their age limits” and protect children from inappropriate content. Many countries in Asia are actively considering online age limits, and Australia made global headlines last year by setting a minimum age of 16 for social media sites except YouTube, which was exampted. Finally, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in January on a Texas-law requiring age checks for online porn sites. Their decision will further inform US courts scrutinizing the flood of US state laws regulating how social media sites serve teen users.