France’s digital affairs and artificial intelligence (AI) minister is on a mission to unify Europe to force social media companies to put on age verification markers, adding that there should be no social networks for those under the age of 15.
Clara Chappaztold French media on Sunday that the country has three months to “mobilise its European partners” for an agreement that obliges social media platforms to verify the age of their users, and failing to do so would result in sanctions.
“My job today is to rally a coalition, with Spain, Greece, and now Ireland, to convince the European Commission,” the 35-year-old minister said.
“If we don’t succeed by the autumn, France will take responsibility. In the absence of a European agreement, France will have to take action,” she added.
France has taken a hard stance against social media use and screen time for children.
Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was in favour of banning phones before the age of 11 and no social media for those under 15.
Chappaz agreed with him and in an interview with the French publication La Tribune said: “No social networking before the age of 15”.
Despite Europe’s Digital Services Act (DSA) having an age framework, Chappaz said that the bloc needs “to go further to strengthen its scope, so that it forces social networks not to accept the creation of accounts without age verification”.
However, getting age verification right is difficult as many children can lie and get around such restrictions, experts have previously told Euronews Next.
Social media platforms such as Meta and TikTok have already put age verification measures in place.
But some have said that it is difficult to verify user age. Chappaz, however, argues that this is an “excuse” which is “false”.
‘I refuse to allow algorithms to raise our children’
“The platforms, which are among the most technologically advanced companies, know everything about our children: their tastes, their sleep patterns, the videos they watch when they’re not well,” she told La Tribune.
“They are capable of pushing targeted content to an 11-year-old, but they wouldn’t know whether he was 13 or 15”.
“Fast, reliable, anonymous technologies that do not store personal data for recognition already exist,” she added.
In the interview on Sunday, she spoke about her 10-day without screens campaign, which began on Monday.
“The idea is not to stigmatise. It’s about taking a step back to better understand the impact of digital technology on our lives and to regain control,” she said.
“I want every family and every class to be able to ask themselves the same question: what role do we want to leave to screens, and, in particular, social networks, in the development of our children?
“I refuse to allow algorithms to raise our children, to dictate what they should see and feel, and who they should look like,” she added.
The minister has also championed the end of #SkinnyTok weight-loss content, where those on social media promote extreme thinness with messages such as “if you’re in a calorie deficit and your stomach rumbles, congratulate yourself”.
She referred the matter of such videos to the French digital watchdog Arcom and requested an investigation by the European Commission, Chappaz said on LinkedIn.
“Digital technology is a wonderful tool, but it can also shatter lives. Protecting minors online is my priority. I won’t give up,” she wrote.
