Meeting in the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) on Thursday 16 October, MEPs largely gave the green light to the draft report on the minimum age of access to social networks, set at between 13 and 16, as a compromise between the main political groups (see EUROPE 13730/7).
The draft report, presented by Christel Schaldemose (S&D, Danish), was approved by 32 votes in favour, 5 against and 9 abstentions. The final text calls for the introduction of a minimum age of 16, set by the EU, for the use of social networks and AI assistants without parental control, with a threshold of 13 for a total ban.
There is also a clear call for a ‘Digital Fairness Act’, which would establish European rules for addictive technologies and practices: - a ban on advertising targeted at minors; - strict supervision of influencer marketing; - ban on addictive designs, ‘loot boxes’ and other ‘dark patterns’ (see EUROPE 13645/12).
MEPs also urge the Commission to make full use of the legislation already in place, primarily the Digital Services Act (DSA), and to finally close the investigations launched against X and TikTok (see EUROPE 13632/2), a long-standing demand of the IMCO Committee.
For Stéphanie Yon-Courtin MEP (Renew Europe, French), shadow rapporteur, this vote is a “first step” in the right direction, with a good compromise reached between the groups, particularly on the issue of the minimum age for access to social networks.
“The age of 16 is more in line with the GDPR, and the ban below the age of 13 is consistent with the platforms’ general rules. We are now asking the panel of experts set up by the President of the Commission to assess these limits, and we are waiting for their results”, she told Agence Europe.
For the MEP, who has repeatedly made this point to the Commission, the most important thing at this stage is to ensure that the rules already in place are properly implemented.
“The Digital Fairness Act will only be necessary if the current regulatory framework fails to meet its objectives. As a group, we don’t ask for a text for the sake of a text. The Commission must first respond to our concerns through the DSA and its investigations”, she said.
But here again, doubt persists. “The problem at the moment is that we don’t see anything happening. We know that the investigations are over, but we’re still waiting, we don’t know where we stand”. And Stéphanie Yon-Courtin deplored the “difference” between Ursula von der Leyen’s declarations and the Commission’s concrete actions.
The plenary vote on the text is scheduled for November.
To see the text adopted: https://aeur.eu/f/j0i (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)