“We think it’s a shared responsibility … There’s no single bullet or silver bullet to say: This one company, solve it for everyone,” said Vinay Goel, director of age assurance at Google. “Developers are best situated to know what is potentially risky.”
The ban debate
There’s doubt, even among the staunchest supporters of strict action and teenagers themselves, that a ban would be effective.
“Well-enforced age verification, parental tools and digital literacy programs,” for example, might achieve better outcomes than bans, said WHO Health Security Director Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat.
Others, including Kuźmitowicz, are concerned that there are always ways to circumvent bans and restrictions, rendering them ineffective.
Meanwhile, health ministers believe there is currently insufficient evidence to support a total ban.
“How do you enforce that?” said Cyprus’ Health Minister Michael Damianos. The “bigger issue” is making sure policies work in practice.
A social media ban “is really and truly walking into the unknown. Such a policy is not backed by evidence,” said Malta’s Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela. “But on the other hand … we know there is a problem, should lack of evidence cripple us and freeze us, and we do nothing about it?”
Giedre Peseckyte contributed to this report.
