Denmark set to limit social media for children under 15
Digitalisation Minister Caroline Stage Olsen said the government had “finally drawn a line in the sand” after allowing the rise of social media platforms for many years.
“Denmark is now leading the way in Europe with its national age limit for social media and its joint effort to strengthen the digital well-being of children and young people,” he said.
Danish Minister of Digitalization Caroline Stage Olsen leads a press conference about a new political agreement for better protection of children and young people online.Credit: access point
“We are taking a necessary stance against a development where big tech platforms have been in control of children’s rooms for too long.”
Stage Olsen has previously said society has been “naive” in giving tech platforms such influence over children, and earlier this year criticized Instagram for launching an advertising campaign against mandatory age verification.
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Instagram, owned by tech giant Meta, led by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, used the campaign in June to advocate for age checks to be done in the app store rather than on social media platforms.
“I have to be honest here, I was outraged when I saw that ad,” Stage Olsen said. Policy In that case. “I wish they had spent the money on a technical age verification solution instead of a campaign saying how much they care.”
European leaders praised Australia’s approach when they met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a meeting on social media at the United Nations in New York in September.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said at the event: “Since the announcement of Australia’s ground-breaking minimum age law, I have been watching very closely and have been inspired by the Australian example.”
One of the keynote speakers at the event was Emma Mason, whose 15-year-old daughter Tilly took her own life after she was bullied by other teenagers on social media.
Emma Mason, who lost her 15-year-old daughter Tilly to suicide, addressed leaders in New York in September.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Members of the European Parliament are set to debate a social media ban in November following an investigation that called for a minimum age of 16 in a report published last month. The investigation was conducted by Danish politician Christel Schaldemose, who, like Frederiksen, is a Social Democrat.
France will be one of the next countries to debate stronger laws after a parliamentary committee in September said a “digital curfew” should be introduced to keep young people off social media at night.
The French investigation called for a social media ban for those under 15 and a curfew for those aged 15 to 18. The investigation was chaired by Laure Miller, a member of the National Assembly of the Renaissance party led by French President Emmanuel Macron.
