Banner: Duty of Care
Social media companies must deactivate underage accounts or face 'huge' fines , warned the minister of technology. .
In an interview with The Telegraph, Michelle Donelan stated that she wants to apply a «zero tolerance» approach to teenagers under 13 using platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok.
p>Speaking ahead of the return of the internet safety bill on Wednesday to the final stages of consideration in Parliament, she said: “If this means deactivating the accounts of nine-year-olds or eight-year-olds, then they will have to do it.
“Because otherwise the mental toll and consequences for these young people will be unimaginable and we are just postponing the bigger issue until tomorrow in terms of the long term impact we are going to address.
Ms Donelan said the bill would «potentially save young lives» by protecting children from harmful content such as suicide, self-harm and pornographic material.
She praised The Telegraph's five-year «Debt of Caring» campaign for «shedding light» on why the government needs to act, and highlighted «enforcing platforms to respect their own age limits» as one of the bill's most important measures.
The regulator Ofcom, which will be responsible for enforcing the new regime, estimates that up to 60 per cent of children aged 8 to 11 have social media profiles, the equivalent of about 1.6 million children across the UK.
Ofcom will have the power to penalize companies up to 10 percent of their global turnover if they do not have effective checks in place to enforce age limits in their circumstances. It can also prosecute company executives who systematically violate their duties, with a maximum penalty of up to two years in prison.
The draft code of practice should be ready by the end of the year
It will publish the draft code of practice before Christmas, which will «raise the threshold» for the «appropriate» checks that would be required to prevent children under 13 from accessing social media platforms.
Ms Donelan said it was clear that the rules were not currently being followed. “We have kids aged nine and eight who use social media platforms and have access to things like pornography,” she said.
“We can’t expect these little kids to grow up . and be able to live a happy and successful life if we don't set it up right. It is important. That is why these changes will make a huge difference.”
She added: “If the regulator finds that [companies] are allowing young people under the age of 13 on their platform, they could face huge fines.”
“If they continue to ignore this, they may even face potential criminal responsibility. So this is a powerful deterrent that should ensure that social media companies take this seriously.”
Ms Donelan acknowledged that there may be times when a social media platform can demonstrate that she has «done her best to stick to the rules.» in the face of 'very smart' young people who evade age verification.
“If…they can document and explain it, it's very different from them defying the rules or being repeat offenders. If that happens, you can expect them to redouble their efforts and introduce new processes to ensure this doesn't happen again,» she said.
The social media giants contacted by The Telegraph say they are already deleting the accounts of children under the age of 13 ahead of legislation to pass through Parliament on October 19.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said it had already introduced new measures last year ahead of the legislation, such as age verification video tests, as part of an effort to remove children under 13 from its platforms.
Snapchat said it was deleting accounts every month and blocking attempts to register tens of thousands of children under 13. «We share the goals of the UK Government and the Internet Safety Bill to ensure digital platforms are age appropriate,» the spokesperson said.
Ms. Donelan also warned social media companies that there would be no concessions to demands companies must take steps to identify and track child sexual abusers, even if they completely encrypt their messaging services.
Encrypted app companies such as WhatsApp and Signal have threatened to leave the UK if ministers implement plans in the bill to require firms to implement scanning technology that would allow messages to be checked for child abuse-related content and images before they are sent. encrypted. They argue that this will undermine user privacy.
«A measured approach to a massive and horrific problem»
«When it comes down to it, there is no compromise solution. You either put protection in there or you don't. This is not a radical security defense. This does not mean that you automatically proceed to editing the encryption,” said Ms. Donelan.
«This is a measured approach to a huge, terrifying problem.»
She also warned companies threatening to leave the UK that they would face the same demands elsewhere as «my colleagues in other countries say they are going to copy our legislation.» She added: “I would ask where these companies are going to move, because this movement is happening all over the world.”
Ms. Donelan said that this is also demanded by their users. «This is what their clients are asking for, it's not just something the government came up with one day in isolation.»
“When I talk to parents, they tell me they want the government to protect their kids online, they want these companies to protect their kids online.”
> “The Telegraph has been really key in highlighting some of the reasons why we need to act. And especially on the issue of young children accessing social media when they shouldn't. Personally, I was stunned by this when I took this post.”
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