Von der Leyen attacks 'big-tech' and opens up to establishing a digital age of majority
The president of the European Commission is considering presenting a legislative proposal this summer to restrict access to social networks for minors
BrusselsMore and more voices in the European Union want to increase the protection of minors on social networks and advocate for establishing an age of majority. For some time now, some member states, such as France and Spain, have been urging the community bloc to ban access to platforms like Instagram or Tiktok for the youngest, but it has not been until this Tuesday that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has opened the door to presenting a legislative proposal to approve a digital age of majority across the EU. "The discussions about a minimum age for social networks can no longer be ignored," the community leader pointed out at a conference on artificial intelligence and children in Copenhagen.
The President of the European Commission delivered a strong speech against large tech companies —the vast majority of which are American or Chinese— and stated that the "business model" of these companies "is to treat children's attention as a commodity." "The more attention, the higher the profits," she said. Furthermore, Von der Leyen warned that the "risks" faced by children on social networks "are multiplying" due to the "rapid advancement of artificial intelligence," which she also considers not "accidental," but the "result" of the platforms' interests.
In the same vein, the head of the community executive stated that "young boys get hooked on games designed to manipulate them and make them spend more and more money," and "young girls are bombarded with advertising for beauty products" with the aim of "profiting from the vulnerability" of young people and "cashing in on their fears and moments of low self-confidence." "The question is not whether young people should have access to social networks, but whether social networks should have access to young people," added the President of the European Commission.
threatened the European bloc with re-increasing tariffsHowever, as Von der Leyen recalled, "almost" all member states have advocated for analyzing whether to increase the protection of minors on social networks, and about ten state governments, like Pedro Sánchez's, are studying the establishment of a digital age of majority. In turn, the Eurochamber has also shown itself in favor of restricting young people's access to social platforms and, therefore, everything indicates that if Brussels ends up presenting the proposal for a digital age of majority, it will end up being approved.
The President of the European Commission has avoided specifying at what age she considers it appropriate to set the digital age of majority and, in fact, there are differences between member states when establishing this figure. However, Von der Leyen has cited the Australian case as an example, which has prohibited the use of social networks for minors under 16 years of age.
The offensive against 'big tech' despite Trump's threats
Von der Leyen's speech comes in the context of yet another crisis in trade relations between the European Union and the United States. The Trump administration, which last week threatened the European bloc with further tariff increases, always pressures Brussels to deregulate the technology sector, which largely controls American industry. However, European leaders are increasingly critical of the White House and, this Tuesday, Von der Leyen wanted to recall all the measures they are taking against the big tech companies, most of which are of American origin.
Specifically, the President of the European Commission recalled that Brussels has already opened an investigation into Meta because it does not guarantee that minors under 13 years of age cannot access Instagram and Facebook, and that it has also launched a procedure against the social network X for its artificial intelligence tool Grok, which creates and disseminates pornographic recreations of real people and material likely to represent child abuse. On the other hand, Von der Leyen recalled that Brussels is also fighting against addictive and illegal designs in the EU of various social networks, especially TikTok.