European Union to ban teenagers from using social media
The European Parliament is set to vote on new rules that could see teenagers banned from services such as Facebook, social media, messaging services or anything else that processes their data, without explicit consent from their parent or guardian.
The last-minute amendment to the new European data protection regulations would make it illegal for companies to handle the data of anyone aged 15 or younger, raising the legal age of digital consent to 16 from 13.
Companies including Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Instagram, will have to gain consent from their legal guardian. The draft law states: “The processing of personal data of a child below the age of 16 years shall only be lawful if and to the extent that such consent is given or authorised by the holder of parental responsibility over the child.”
Companies such as Facebook currently allow users from the age of 13 to join their services. Their policies are based on the age of digital consent being 13, as defined by the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (Coppa) and similar laws in the EU, which afford those under 13 extra privacy protections. Until recently, the draft European data protection bill, which is four years in the making, set the digital age of consent at 13. (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act)
Um, not like it matters though, just click the box that you're above the age, or enter a birth date that shows you are... like you all did before you were 13
The EU-wide data-protection law is set to replace a patchwork of 28 different sets of national laws, making it easier to operate in the EU under one blanket law. To get to this point has taken four years of negotiations and while a European Commission official, said: "We're quite happy with what's on the table," some tech companies aren't as happy.
Rene Summer, Director of Government and industry relations, Ericsson, said: "Even if something goes wrong only in a small part of the company that operates in the EU, the entire organization is fined."
One of the key sore points are the rules around fines and how much should be imposed on companies that breach the new rules. A proposal of 2% of global revenue has been proposed by the European Commission, while the European Parliament is pushing for a 5% levy.
A cap of 4% is looking the most likely, with maximum fines only imposed for the most serious offences.
