The United Kingdom is preparing to restrict the access of children under 13 years of age to social networks. If the companies do not comply with the new law, they will be fined or could even face up to two years in prison.
Companies running social networks in the UK will have to deactivate accounts for children under 13 or face hefty fines, says Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Michelle Donelan in an interview with British newspaper The Telegraph.
The Governor advocates an approach of “zero tolerance” for children under the age of 13 using social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok).
The law was presented to parliament on Wednesday and is nearing completion, with approval scheduled for October 19. Michelle Donelan ensures that this law protect children of harmful content linked to topics such as suicide, self-mutilation and pornographic material, but assumes that there may be “highly intelligent” young people who are able to circumvent age verification measures.
Because, otherwise, the mental impact and ramifications for these young people are unimaginable and we are just saving a bigger problem for tomorrow in terms of the long-term impact that we are going to face”, highlights the minister.
Ofcom, the regulatory authority in charge of monitoring this new law, estimates that 60% of children between the ages of 8 and 11 have profiles on social networks.
If companies do not comply This new indication, Ofcom may apply fines of up to 10% of your global billing, and you will continue to have the power to sue company bosses those who systematically fail to comply, with a maximum penalty of up to two years in prison.
If they continue to ignore this, they could even face possible criminal liability. So it’s a big hurdle in making sure social media companies take this seriously,” says Michelle Donelan.
Some companies, contacted by the British newspaper The Telegraph, assured that they were already introducing new measures.
Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, says it is rolling out age verification tests. Snapchat says it is removing accounts and blocking registration attempts by anyone under the age of 13.
whatsapp threatened to leave the UK if the bill goes ahead. Its managers defend that introducing the technology of exploration that allows messages to be verified before encrypting them will harm the privacy of users.
There have been other companies that have threatened to withdraw from the UK for similar reasons, but this one it was not a concern to Michelle Donelan, who says that her counterparts in other countries “say they will copy the law” in Britain, adding: “I wonder where these companies are going, because this is a movement that spans the globe.” Donelan has been quite incisive about it and mentions that the users themselves have called for these changes in the law.
Much has been said about the restriction and control of the use of social networks in recent years. In addition to the UK, the European Commission will also publish a draft code of conduct that will increase proper scrutiny on social media to restrict access to young people under the age of 13.
Source: Observadora
