- cross-posted to:
- privacy@programming.dev
- world@quokk.au
- cross-posted to:
- privacy@programming.dev
- world@quokk.au
PRAGUE, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Sunday he was in favour of banning the use of social media by children under 15, as a growing number of European countries consider similar restrictions.
Countries including Spain, Greece, Britain and France are weighing tougher stances on social media use due to concern over the perceived negative effects on children, after Australia in December became the first nation to prohibit access to such platforms for the under-16s.
“I am in favour because the experts I know say that it is terribly harmful to children. We must protect our children,” Babis said in a regular video message posted on several of his social media accounts on Sunday, without giving further details. Later in the day, the government’s first deputy prime minister, Karel Havlicek, told a television chat show on private broadcaster CNN Prima News that the cabinet was seriously considering proposing a ban. If it decides to go ahead, Havlicek said legislation would be proposed this year. Spain and Greece proposed bans on social media use by teenagers last week, as attitudes hardened in Europe against technology some say is designed to be addictive. The measures announced by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez drew fury from Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of the X platform, formerly Twitter. Britain is considering an Australia-style ban, while France is working through legislation to ban children aged under 15 from social media use. Governments and regulators worldwide are looking at the impact of children’s screen time on their development and mental wellbeing.
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Personally, I think this should be done by limiting device functionality. No internet access on devices owned by <insert age limit>. Mobile phones are still fine, but limit them to local functions and being a phone.
I know this requires parents not to provide full fledged devices, but often I think all parents need is a reason to say “no” to something that can’t be argued with.
how they will identify people under 15 years ? it means people will need to verify their id which is not good for privacy
Wouldn’t it be fine if the id reader app only transmits the boolean of whether you’re older or younger than 15 years to the website? For me that would be an acceptable amount of personal data to share.
However I think that we need to regulate social media not just for kids but in general for the entire society. At least I don’t want to know how much time I’ve already lost because of the Tech-companies. Especially for people in a bad psychological state these programs are creating considerable damage through their addictive algorithms.
On Youtube for example an option is needed for disabling the “suggested videos” part (and it should be enabled per default). It’s true that in a free market one could just choose another provider but because of the network-induced monopolies that’s not possible.
I think it’d be better to regulate social media entirely, yeah. Away with the bad algorithms, that’s also much less privacy-infringing.
Of course I agree with you, I think social media usage must restrict with 4 hours per day but my point is that we cant trust anyone. you said boolean response but how we can be sure they are not lying ?