The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will participate this Thursday in a videoconference convened by the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, with the aim of advancing in greater coordination among European countries that are working on the prohibition of minors' access to social networks, according to sources from Moncloa told Europa Press.
According to Bloomberg, also present at the teleconference will be the Irish Prime Minister, Micheal Martin, and the head of the Dutch Executive, Rob Jetten, according to information provided by the Élysée. In addition, Brussels has confirmed the presence of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
The purpose of this virtual meeting is to harmonize the efforts that several member states have already launched to limit the use of social media by minors. The Élysée emphasizes that Macron argues that a shared strategy would strengthen the effectiveness of these restrictions across the European Union.
According to Bloomberg, at least seven EU countries are studying or processing initiatives to reduce the risks that social media poses for minors. In France, Macron has proposed banning them for minors under 15 years old and aims for the new regulation to come into force in September.
In the case of Spain, Sánchez announced in February his intention to ban access to social media for minors under 16. "Our children are exposed to a space in which they should never navigate alone, a space of addiction, abuse, violence, pornography, manipulation. We are not going to tolerate it anymore, we are going to protect them against this digital wild west," he affirmed then.
A European tool for verifying age
At the community level, the European Commission is studying different options to restrict minors' access to social networks, although for now it continues to reject setting a single minimum age for the entire EU, due to the technical and legal complexity of imposing a common rule in an area that is the exclusive competence of the Member States.
In any case, Von der Leyen created last March a working group tasked with proposing a "solid and realistic European approach" and it is expected that this panel of experts will present concrete recommendations by summer at the latest.
In parallel, the Community Executive has promoted a European age verification tool, whose pilot project has involved the participation of several countries, including France and Spain. Brussels expected that the application would be available in the 'Appstore' since March, although its use will not be mandatory in all Member States until the end of the year.
The idea is to have a common platform capable of checking the real age of whoever tries to access social networks from mobile phones or other devices, for which it has been tested for months with the aim of adapting the technology to the particularities of each country.
Platforms must have a system in place before the end of the year that allows verifying and validating the age of their users. Although they will not be forced to adopt the European solution, they will have to demonstrate that their own mechanisms offer an equivalent level of guarantee and that they comply with the requirements of national and community regulations.