02/10/2025
In recent weeks, a flurry of announcements has put children’s online safety back at the center of Europe’s political debate. Several EU member states, including France, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, and Germany, are experimenting with age-verification tools and parental consent systems to restrict children’s access to social media. Meanwhile, Brussels is locked in negotiations over how far and how fast new limits should go. And then came Meta’s proposal: the company behind Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp suggests introducing a “Digital Majority Age” across Europe. Under this plan, teenagers under 16 would need parental approval before downloading apps. On the surface, it sounds like a responsible move. Policymakers are listening. But scratch deeper, and a different picture emerges.
Shifting Responsibility, Dodging Accountability
Meta’s plan doesn’t change its algorithms, its addictive features, or its toxic recommendation systems. Instead, it shifts the burden onto families: parents become the content police, deciding app by app whether their children can join. This playbook is familiar. Tobacco companies once argued that smoking was a “personal choice.” Fast food and alcohol industries have long deflected responsibility onto consumers. Now Big Tech is doing the same: blaming users instead of fixing products that they know are harmful.
Europe Already Has the Tools
If Meta were truly committed to a safe digital environment, it would have acted years ago. Instead, it has lobbied aggressively against the very EU rules designed to rein in harmful design and addictive features, the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Even today, Big Tech continues to resist full compliance. At the same time, political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic debate whether Europe should water down its standards to appease US tech giants. But Europe already has the tools it needs. The DSA and DMA demand real accountability: safer algorithms, transparent design, and enforceable rules. What’s missing is the political will to use them.
Policymakers, the Choice Is Yours
Visualizza questo post su Instagram