EU moving toward social media ban/rules for kids

 

Brussels unveils plans for EU-wide social media ban for kids under 13

By Paul Godfrey    

The EU KIDS Act will bar children younger than 13 from social media, route older kids' access via their parents' accounts and impose new safety-by-design" requirements on all online and video sharing platforms providing services to anyone under the age of 18. File photo Sascha Steinbach/EPA

Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Brussels confirmed Thursday it will move ahead with legislation that will see a blanket EU social media ban for children younger than 13, sets 15 as the minumim age to open an account and imposes new "safety-by-design" rules on tech firms providing services to minors younger than 18.

The EU KIDS Act will boost parental oversight of children between the ages of 13 and 15 with mini accounts linked to the parent or guardian's main account that would limit them to age-appropriate social media and video-sharing platforms, the European Commission said in a news release.

Services accessed via mini accounts must have safeguards built-in, including restricted ability to be contacted and contact others and a daily screen time limit of an hour maximum in recognition of "the role of guardians in supporting the autonomous and safe development of their children online," the commission said.

"Today, our children are engaging with the most sophisticated technologies ever created. Technology that was never created with their wellbeing in mind. Our KIDS Act is reversing the burden of proof -- it is for platforms to show they are safe by design. And we put parents back in the driving seat, giving them the tools to help their children navigate a safer online world," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Large online platforms will be required to submit a compliance plan to the commission and to an independent auditor for existing and new services, features or functionality to be evaluated and make modifications, if asked to do so.

The proposed ecosystem will require online services and app stores use tools to confirm age such as the EU age verification app with the 27 member states of the bloc "closely involved" in setting up the new regime to keep kids safe online.

The law bans addictive features and profiling-based recommender feeds "dragging minors into 'rabbit holes' of harmful content,'" infinite scroll, reward tricks and push notifications during sleeping hours and unsolicited contact for all online services that provide social media, video sharing and online video games to under-18s.

AI companions and chatbots must be turned off by default and must not interact with users in ways that develop emotional dependency.

Minors' profile must be also set to private by default with geolocation, camera and microphone off and kid-friendly tools provided for them to block and mute other users, manage their time online as well as the ability to easily control, fine-tune and reset recommender systems.

The commission said a proposal had been forwarded to the European Parliament and Council aimed at kickstarting the process of adopting the bill.

"Considering the clear demand for urgent and comprehensive action at Union level, it is essential that the act is adopted swiftly," said the commission.

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Streaming Service Deletes 600k Accounts in 60 Days Amid Epidemic of Child Sexual Exploitation

© Jaap Arriens / Global Look Press

Live-streaming app LiveMe has deleted 600,000 accounts of children under the age of 13 in the last 60 days since media reports emerged that pedophiles were using the service to exploit underage users.

The app, which has been downloaded more than 90 million times, shares the user's location and allows users to search for who is streaming near them. A Fox News affiliate in Los Angeles revealed in May that underage girls who use the service were being regularly solicited by predators to perform sexual acts on camera.

According to the news outlet, one girl was confronted by her mother after police received reports that she had been ordered by predators watching her stream to pull her top up and perform a sexual act on her friend.

Police were alerted to the live stream by a group called Sheepdog Bloodhound, a group of volunteers from around the world who monitor LiveMe in an effort to try to report and prevent child exploitation.

"The child had been online with a friend and inappropriate, showing herself, showing her body, basically doing what the predators had asked her to do," said Paul Irwin, the leader of Sheepdog Bloodhound. "In most cases, shall we say 90 percent, the families have no idea what their youth are doing now."

One girl who spoke with the Fox affiliate explained how the abuse occurs.

"We go live, and we're just bored and we get no comments," the girl said. "But then the predators coming in and enticing them, and then they'll give a gift, and that's when we're like 'oh, you're paying attention to me so I'll do whatever they want me to do and I want those gifts."

The minimum age for using LiveMe is 13, and the company says that it hopes to delete all users under 13 within the next two months. The streaming service is also implementing a safety program staffed by 1,000 volunteers, and it says it is working on improvements to its AI systems, which can help detect and report child exploitation.

This is good, but I wonder how they determine how old a child is. I also think that 13 is too young to be thrown to the wolves. Minimum age should be at least 15.