On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen gave a speech at an event organised by Australia on protecting children online.
The president, who affirmed that the EU takes this problem very seriously, recalled in particular the Commission’s recent initiative, at the beginning of July, which unveiled a test application to verify the age of online users (see EUROPE 13680/15), alongside its guidelines to ensure the protection of minors (see EUROPE 13680/16).
Without announcing anything new, Ursula von der Leyen said she was “inspired” by the Australian measures. “Many Member States believe that the time has come to introduce a ‘digital age of majority’ to access social media”, she said.
At the forefront of these countries is France, which shares this favourite topic with Denmark, which has made it one of the priorities of its Presidency of the EU Council (see EUROPE 13655/2).
Australia recently passed a law requiring age-restricted platforms to prevent users under 16 years of age from creating or maintaining online accounts. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)