As the months go by, the countries fall into line. Following France, which initiated the move towards a potential ban on social networking for minors (see EUROPE 13808/4), Denmark, Spain and, more recently, the Netherlands have followed suit. It is now the turn of Germany and Greece to show their support for such an initiative, should dialogue with the major platforms fail to produce concrete results.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed his “sympathy” for this kind of proposal in the ‘Machtwechsel podcast’ posted online on Wednesday 18 February.
The Chancellor says he is “very, very, very cautious about legally banning something like [social networks]” but agrees that the “consequences” of fake news, AI-generated images and platforms such as TikTok, particularly on children, “make things more complicated”.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has also entered the debate, stating on Thursday 19 February at the AI Summit in India that he was in favour of European legislation on the subject.
Protecting children from the dangers of the Internet and digital addiction is an “absolute priority” according to the head of the Greek government, who added that he would be announcing “very shortly” a decision to ban access to social networks by minors and teenagers.
In his view, this kind of technology should strengthen “the public space rather than inundating us with disinformation and hatred”. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)