Child online safety: the ban trap

Moving past soundbites, what matters in today’s child online safety debate? A great event last week examined the EU Commission’s plans for protecting children online – and whether a social media “delay” or ban might make sense (or not).

The Commission’s approach involves work by a Special Panel on child safety online. It features 21 experts, notably a few teenagers and youth representatives, and is co-chaired by Maria Melchior and Jörg M. Fegert. Its aim is to tackle different perspectives and figure out which options are available to improve child safety online.

In my interactions with a Commission representative, I asked about the range of views that would be present, as I have seen battle lines drawn even among academia, between those who wish to ban youth access to social media and those dead-set against it. Even the latter are divided, between those who consider that a ban would be a step too far towards generalised surveillance and those who wish to avoid State paternalism and consider it better to focus on education and awareness.

Those 21 people may not be sufficient to cover the breadth of perspectives needed, so I welcomed the suggestion that the Special Panel might invite externals to offer other views.

I am no fan of age restrictions here. As I have often said, a ban will lead many to turn to alternatives, likely unregulated and untouchable platforms (a form of shadow social media), or to means of bypassing the ban.

There is also the issue of competence. With France, Spain and apparently 23 other EU countries wishing to take certain steps, we risk damaging the EU Internal Market if Member States take action separately. Plus, the Digital Services Act (DSA) restricts what they can impose.

Beyond bans, though, what measures can help child online safety?

Some present mentioned measures to tackle “addictive design”. I pointed out that recent investigations announced by the Commission suggest that “addictive design” may become a catch-all to tackle any user interface / user experience aspect some consider undesirable – while the DSA’s clear intent is to tackle manipulation, not situations where users retain agency and free will. Lower the threshold under actual manipulation, and all UI/UX elements become forbidden. [Clearly there is no need for the Digital Fairness Act if the Commission considers the DSA covers this!]

This is incidentally where some data protection authorities are going, with claims that even nudging is a “dark pattern” prohibited under GDPR despite users retaining all agency.

But where would that leave our youth? Skirting bans, or suddenly falling into the world of adults at 18 with no prior understanding of online safety?

Talking to our kids is the answer, I find. Not easy (I know from my talks with my kids), but in the long term better than any ban.

We’ll see what the Special Panel comes up with by this summer.

Further reading: https://lnkd.in/esdMwxUB

[Thanks Satya Staes Polet for the invite!]