More social networks without parental consent: Parliament must definitively approve on Thursday, June 29, the obligation for platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat or Instagram to verify the age of their users and parental consent when they are under 15 years of age.
After the final and unanimous green light from the National Assembly the day before, the bill must obtain that of the Senate this Thursday. The final approval of the text carried out by Laurent Marcangeli, head of the Horizons deputies (presidential camp), will be considered in a consensual climate in the two rooms.
Its date of entry into force is still uncertain: it will be set by decree, after an opinion to be issued by the European Commission on its compliance with community law. Social networks will then have one year to meet their obligations for new registrations.
A “numerical majority”
From pornography to cyberbullying, unachievable beauty standards or addictive attention-getting processes: during debates, parliamentarians exposed the risks that young people must be protected against.
The “numerical majority” at 15 years to which the bill refers is not new: it was introduced in France in 2018 in application of European legislation, which left the possibility of fixing it between 13 and 16 years .
But this threshold refers more broadly to the age below which parental consent is required for a minor’s personal data to be processed. Above all, it is not really enforced and has had no impact on children’s access to social media.
In theory, social networks are not open to children under 13 years of age. But the first record would occur there on average around 8 and a half years, and more than half of the 10-14 year olds are present there, according to data from the National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (CNIL).
Sanctions in case of non-compliance
Faced with this situation, the bill establishes an obligation for social networks to verify the age of users. And obtain “the authorization of one of the holders of parental authority” for those under 15 years of age, the age that generally corresponds to entering secondary school.
They will have to use “technical solutions in accordance with a reference system drawn up by the Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority (Arcom), after consulting the CNIL”.
During the debates, the absence to date of a unanimous mechanism was noted. But parliamentarians judged that this should not prevent them from sending a strong signal.
In addition to new registrations, parental consent must also be obtained for accounts already held by children under the age of fifteen. For these existing accounts, the entry into force of the obligation is scheduled two years after that of the law. In case of non-compliance, the social networks will be penalized, with a fine of up to 1% of the global turnover of the company.
The text also allows the holder of parental authority to request the suspension of the account of a minor under 15 years of age. And it requires networks to activate a time-of-use monitoring device for minors.
Protection of children’s image rights
During the review, an article was removed that authorized access to “labeled” networks, with parental consent, for children under 13 years of age. “Non-profit online encyclopedias” such as Wikipedia have been explicitly excluded from the text field.
The text “will not be enough to put an end to excesses on its own”, admitted its initiator Laurent Marcangeli on Wednesday, June 28, and called for “advancing age verification techniques online and investing massively in digital education for parents, children and teachers. These new provisions are part of a series of initiatives from the presidential field.
A text to protect the right to the image of children against the abuse of certain parents on social networks was recently approved at first reading by the two chambers, which have not yet reached a common version. The Assembly also adopted at first reading in March measures against the overexposure of children to screens.
On the executive side, the Delegate Minister for the Digital Transition Jean-Noël Barrot will defend a bill to “secure and regulate the digital space” starting on July 4 in the Senate chamber. With measures in particular to enforce the obligation of pornographic sites to verify that their users are of legal age.
Source: BFM TV
