Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has asked the European Union to create new unified regulations to guarantee that minors’ experience on the internet is healthy. To achieve this goal, the technology company considers that the owners of the operating systems and application stores that users use, mainly Apple and Google, must verify the age of users before allowing downloads from a social network. Something that, on paper, would relieve Facebook, Instagram or TikTok of responsibility.
“When a teen wants to download an app, the operating system (OS) or app store should notify their parents so they can decide whether they want to approve it, similar to when parents are notified if their teen tries to download an app. a purchase,” says Antigone Davis, vice president and global head of security at Meta, in a release.
According to Meta, the owners of the operating systems or app stores will have to notify the legal guardians of the minor of the attempt to download the app as long as the minor is under 16 years of age. Precisely, that is the age from which a company like Meta is authorized to process the data of a user residing in the European Union without having the approval of the parents. And it is already known that the majority of income that Zuckerberg’s company receives comes, indeed, from the use of the information of its Internet users for advertising purposes.
From the point of view of technology expert jurist Sergio Carrasco Mayans, what Meta is trying to do with this request is to “remove an obligation that forces them to lose users.” «In the end, Meta is the owner of the social networks and the one that processes the user data, so, in accordance with European data protection regulations, they are the ones who must guarantee that minors do not use their services. without consent,” says the expert in conversation with this ABC.
The company, however, echoes the results of a recent survey in which it points out that parents in the majority of European countries are inclined to have the owners of the application stores take care of the verification and application. of consent. In the case of Spain, 63% of those consulted.
Meta is also calling on the EU to create industry-wide standards on teen-appropriate experiences online. To achieve this, the social media company must reach consensus on the types of content appropriate to show to users based on age, just as happens with movies or video games. Additionally, certain apps, including social media, should offer parental monitoring tools for teens under 16, which parents can activate and control. This is something that Instagram will begin to offer starting in 2025 on all minor accounts.
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