The vote by French MPs to ban social networking sites for minors under the age of 15 is definitely raising a few questions at European level. Questioned on Tuesday 27 January about the feasibility of this bill and its compatibility with European law, the European Commission attempted to clarify a number of technical details on an issue that has become highly political in recent months (see EUROPE 13760/5).
While the French decision to restrict access to social networks to minors is indeed legal and valid from a European perspective, the actual obligation for platforms to have a mechanism for verifying the age of their users can only be applied through the Digital Services Act (DSA), which is an exclusively European competence (see EUROPE 13680/16).
In other words, France can prohibit minors from accessing social networks, but cannot legally penalise platforms that have not put in place a viable mechanism to ensure this. This is the Commission’s prerogative.
The Commission, which says that protecting minors online is “a priority”, points out that an online age verification mechanism is already being tested in several EU countries, including France (see EUROPE 13680/15).
“This age verification tool will be compulsory in all Member States by the end of the year, along with the eID (European digital identity). Once this mechanism is in place, platforms will be obliged to use this tool, or another equivalent one, to ensure that minors’ access to their services complies with European and national laws”, explained Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier.
The delicate issue of harmonising such a ban at European level is still under consideration. The DSA is cited as a potential tool for dealing with this problem at European level and avoiding cases where a young foreigner travelling to France is denied access to a network to which they have full access in their home country.
However, the EU27 are divided on this issue, each having a specific vision of the minimum age to be introduced and the platforms to be blocked (see EUROPE 13728/1). (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)