EU Demands Major Tech Platforms Boost Child Safety Measures Amid Growing Push for Age Restrictions

The European Union has intensified its efforts to protect children online by demanding detailed explanations from major tech platforms including Apple, Google, Snapchat, and YouTube about their child safety measures. This move, initiated under the Digital Services Act (DSA), targets how these companies prevent access by minors to harmful content and illegal apps, such as gambling or "nudify" applications that produce non-consensual sexual images.

EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen emphasized that privacy, security, and safety must be guaranteed for minors, noting that current practices are insufficient. The European Commission has sent formal information requests to Apple and Google concerning safeguards in their app stores, Snapchat about age verification and drug sale prevention, and YouTube about its recommendation algorithm which has been criticized for pushing harmful content to children.

This enforcement step is part of a broader push within the EU to explore restricting children’s access to social media platforms altogether, inspired by Australia's ban on social media use for under-16s. Countries like Denmark are considering banning social media for children under 15, while France and Spain support EU-wide regulations on this issue. Denmark, holding the EU presidency, is spearheading collective action for stricter digital age limits.

The Commission plans to study a potential EU-wide digital majority age to protect minors from online harm. Failure to comply with the DSA’s child protection obligations could result in fines up to 6% of global revenue for these platforms. This reflects the EU's commitment to making the digital environment safer for children across all member states, balancing innovation with critical protections.techxplore+4​