Age to access at social media

To those who are still convinced that the use of cell phones and social media by children and adolescents is an absolutely positive thing, they can read this news.

The city of New York has provided an example of what can be done globally by initiating legal proceedings against three social media giants: TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. They are accused of exacerbating the mental health crisis among children and adolescents by exploiting their vulnerability to generate addiction to their platforms. Mayor Eric Adams has filed this lawsuit, which echoes a similar legal action initiated in California in 2022. The complaint focuses on aggressive marketing tactics and algorithms that, according to the accusation, “attract, trap, and fuel addiction in young people,” exposing them to harmful content.

Florida, on the other hand, has decided that platforms are required to close accounts that are believed to be used by children under 14, while teenagers who are already 14 or 15 years old can have a profile only with parental consent.

In France, Macron has established a commission on these issues which has reached the following proposals. According to the commission, the use of smartphones and tablets must be regulated according to age. In summary, the rules are as follows: an absolute ban on screens before the age of 3, a ban on cell phones before the age of 11, a ban on the internet before the age of 13, a ban on access to social media before the age of 15, and between the ages of 15 and 18, access only to “ethical” social networks, excluding Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Telegram. The experts have also called for a fight against so-called “predatory services” that connect users with the start of automatic video streams, mostly characterized by scenes of pornography and violence. This is a sort of guide particularly for parents, whose individual responsibility is directly called into question.

In Italy, the minimum age for registering on social networks is 14, while 18 years are required to conclude an online contract for a specific application or to join a community. In other words, children under 14 cannot register on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and all other social networks. However, there is a clause that would allow them to join social platforms as users. Children under 14 can, in fact, have access if they obtain parental consent. The problem is that the dangers of the web are many and the youngest are often unaware of them. Driven by the group and the community, they decide to surf and register on social media to feel part of something and to emulate the older ones.

These are examples of how many institutions are moving to curb the problems generated by the use of smartphones among young people and how the perception of the gravity of this phenomenon is becoming increasingly evident in the Western world.