Road to the State of the European Union – Policy Wishlist Series I
Jutta Croll
What the Article 28 Guidelines of the Digital Services Act Can Do to Protect Children and Respect Their Rights
WISH(ES): Prioritise the rights of children over the need for protection and make digital services act’s article 28 guidelines mandatory
One right of children that is most often overlooked is their right to freedom of association and peaceful assembly. In this regard, General Comment #25 reads in paragraph 65: “States parties should ensure that their laws, regulations and policies protect children’s right to participate in organisations that operate partially or exclusively in the digital environment. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise by children of their right to freedom of association and peaceful assembly in the digital environment other than those that are lawful, necessary and proportionate.”
I think the political debate on social media restrictions would benefit from being grounded in this request for lawfulness, necessity and proportionality. Questions guiding the deliberations should be: Is it lawful to prioritise the need for protection over any other right of children? Is the restriction of access to social media the only and unavoidable means to keep children safe online? Are there more proportionate measures to address the issue?
I assume we could do better than simply keeping children away from what they say is a “vital tool for family (66 %) and friends (77 %) communication” on a daily basis.
It is the platforms’ responsibility to make sure minors benefit from their services instead of being constantly at risk. A major step forward would be to make the digital services act’s article 28 guidelines mandatory, which is my one big recommendation. If platforms would adhere to these recommendations in the 450 Mio consumers market in Europe I believe the lessons learned would also have a positive impact globally.
Jutta Croll is the chairwoman of the Board of Directors at Digital Opportunities Foundation, Germany. An ambitious child rights advocate, Ms Croll researches media policy and regulations, media literacy and youth protection, with a focus on artificial intelligence and virtual realities, age assurance, privacy, usability and accessibility. In 2018, she was appointed by the UN Secretary-General to the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the Internet Governance Forum. She was a member of the Expert Group that co-authored General Comment No. 25 on Children’s Rights in Relation to the Digital Environment with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.
This blog post appeared on Social Media Ban for Kids, an interactive website managed by The Lisbon Council, a Brussels-based think tank, to gather available evidence and data points on the social media ban for children. Its website is https://socialmediaban.lisboncouncil.net/.