Norway has decided to raise the minimum age for registering on social media to 15, deeming these platforms increasingly dangerous for the mental health of the nation’s young people. The limit is currently 13 years, while in the European Union (of which the Scandinavian country is not part) it is 14 years. Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, admitted it will be “an uphill battle” but said politicians must intervene to protect children from the “power of algorithms”.
Social media platforms, the Labor leader said, were being misused by the industry and could make users “all equal and pacified”. As The Guardian explains, a minimum age limit of 13 is already in force in the Scandinavian country. Despite this, more than half of nine-year-olds, 58% of ten-year-olds and 72% of eleven-year-olds are on social media, according to research by the Norwegian Media Authority.
That’s why the Government has pledged to introduce more safeguards to prevent children from circumventing age restrictions, including changing the Personal Data Act so that social media users must be 15 to consent to the management of their data. personal data by the platform and the development of an age verification barrier for social media.
“It’s a very strong signal,” the prime minister said, arguing that “children must be protected from harmful content on social media.” “These are large technological giants pitted against the brains of children. We know that it is an uphill battle, because there are strong forces here, but it is also where politics is necessary”, concluded the prime minister.
Age control
One of the crucial steps of the new proposal would be the introduction of an age verification system, still in the testing phase. The Minister for Children and Families, Kjersti Toppe, expressed confidence in the project, hoping that it will send a clear message to parents, providing them with legal support to ban their children from using social media. “Many parents want to say no, but often don’t feel able to,” Toppe said.
However, no clear guidelines have yet been provided on exactly how to implement this control. One of the proposed solutions is the use of bank ID, but this is an option still under discussion, as not all citizens have this type of identification.
A community battle
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted social media addiction and cyberbullying as major concerns regarding minors. This is why the EU is promoting the use of the European Digital Wallet to verify the age of users. Meanwhile, France recently introduced age verification on pornographic sites through credit card checks, a temporary three-month measure.
The Norwegian proposal could mark a turning point in the protection of young people on the internet, but the challenge will be to ensure that the new rules are applicable to the entire population without excluding anyone from safe access to online platforms.
