On Tuesday 13 May, the European Commission opened a call for consultations to inform the drafting of its guidelines for the protection of minors online, as part of the Digital Services Act (DSA).
According to the guidelines, the platforms most likely to pose risks to minors can implement measures to mitigate these risks: blocking access to certain problematic content, ensuring the confidentiality of personal accounts, reducing the risk of cyberbullying by offering the simplest possible options for blocking users, and managing algorithm recommendations to avoid ‘rabbit hole’ effects (an online browsing process in which the user ends up exploring related, often increasingly extreme and sometimes endless topics).
The guidelines recommend that platforms tailor their measures to varying levels of risk, depending on their user base and social reach, “avoiding unduly restricting children’s rights to participation, information and freedom of expression”.
On the issue of age-based access restrictions, the Commission writes that it “considers such measures to be an effective means of ensuring a high level of confidentiality, safety and security [...] when used to protect minors from accessing online content that is inappropriate for their age”.
These guidelines are open to consultation until 10 June.
See the call for consultations: https://aeur.eu/f/gso (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)