Social media: Senate, in turn, votes for mandatory parental consent for children under 15

After the National Assembly, the Senate adopted on Tuesday in its first reading, with changes, the obligation of social networks such as TikTok or Snapchat to verify the age of their users and parental consent for the registration of children under 15 years old. The government has initiated an accelerated procedure for this text, now deputies and senators will try to agree on a common version.

The bill, introduced by Horizons deputy head Laurent Markangeli, establishes a commitment for social media to “implement a technical solution to verify end-user age and parental consent for children under 15.” solution”, which must be certified by the authorities.

This age corresponds to entry into secondary school and the age at which a minor can give his/her consent to the processing of his/her personal data alone, reminds speaker Alexandra Borchio-Fontimp (LR). In the event of non-compliance, a company may be subject to a fine of up to 1% of its global turnover.

Device for monitoring the time of use

At the initiative of the speaker, the senators specified that the permission of the sole owner of parental rights would be required. The text also allows parental rights holders to request the suspension of a child’s account under the age of 15. The senators also removed the provision for “labeled” networks, which children under 13 could access with parental consent submitted to the Assembly, despite the unfavorable opinion of the government.

In a semi-cycle, the Senate passed a socialist amendment requiring networks to activate a time-of-use device when registering a minor. The Senate also explicitly excluded “non-commercial online encyclopedias” such as Wikipedia and “educational and scientific reference books” from the scope of the bill.

For Alexandra Borchio-Fontimp, this text “is an important defense against the premature development of digital puberty and the power of the tools available to young people.” This “is part of a general and international awareness of the danger that social media can pose, especially for the youngest,” echoed centrist Annick Billon.

Nevertheless, several senators questioned the effective implementation of its provisions. According to the National Commission on Computing and Liberties (Cnil), the first registration on a social network occurs on average about 8 and a half years, and more than a quarter of children aged 7-10 regularly visit social networks. The Senate has created a commission at the request of the Les Indépendants group on the social network TikTok, the findings of which should be made public before the end of the parliamentary session.