DTwelve years after the revelation of the “Facebook Files” by whistleblower Frances Haugen, who denounced the negative impact of the social network on the mental health of young subscribers, the turmoil resurfaces on a global scale for the different platforms .
Meta, today accused by forty American states of being responsible, through its Facebook and Instagram applications, for“harnessing powerful and unprecedented technologies to attract (…) and ultimately trap young people and adolescents », is not the only one in the sights of American justice. Snapchat is also the subject of complaints filed on behalf of parents of young children who died of overdoses following the consumption of fentanyl-containing pills purchased through the application, when the latter thought they were purchasing drugs of the type Xanax.
In France, a complaint was filed in September with the prosecution of the Toulon judicial court against the Chinese social network TikTok, accused of having contributed to the discomfort of young Marie, harassed because of her weight, who committed suicide at the age of 15.
To protect our youth, the establishment of an ambitious legal framework is essential. Without falling into measures as radical as anecdotal as the Chinese one, prohibiting minors from accessing the Internet at night, France’s determination seems serious. It remains to be seen whether recent French initiatives will resist the European vision of regulating the digital space.
New obligations
Three recent texts demonstrate France’s ambition to create a safer digital space for children and adolescents, in particular by placing new obligations on platforms or websites. For example, the law of June 9, 2023 aimed at combating the abuses of influencers on social networks requires them to offer a button to report illegal posts by influencers and remove them as quickly as possible.
The law of July 7, 2023, for its part, requires platforms to enforce the digital majority at 15 years of age that it establishes. In particular, under penalty of a fine of up to 1% of their turnover, they will have to put in place a technical solution allowing age verification and refuse, in the absence of agreement from the one of the parents, the registration of children under 15 years of age in their services.
Finally, in the event of final adoption of the bill aimed at securing and regulating the digital space, known as the SREN law, pornographic sites will also have to provide age verification systems, under penalty of heavy fines or blocking measures. . Hosts will also have to remove child pornography content reported by the police or gendarmerie within twenty-four hours.
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