At its sitting the European Union Affairs Committee (EUAC) confirmed Estonia’s positions regarding the safety of minors online and the possible restrictions on using social media.
The European Commission submitted a project for EU KIDS Act (Keeping Internet Digital Spaces Accountable and Trustworthy) in September, intending to introduce common rules for protecting minors across the EU. “Estonia is of course extremely keen to keep our children safe online. This is why we emphasise that platforms must ensure the safety of their services for all users, most importantly for children, and that the European Commission supervision over very large web platforms and search engines must also be strengthened,” said the Chairman of the EUAC Peeter Tali.
The explanatory memorandum explains that the regulation stems from the report of the European Commission Special Panel on child safety online, which was published in July and included a suggestion to set out a minimum age for using social media across Europe. “Estonia does not support a blanket ban on digital services, social media, or AI companions for children because in our experience banning has not led to the desired results. We should instead look at the root causes that are linked to the business models of the platforms and the service design. The goal should be defined as shaping safe digital services for everyone,” Tali said.
The approved positions set out that the measures taken to protect children must be risk based, targeted, proportional, conscious of the abilities and needs of different user groups, and supportive of participation in a digital society, and that the society must continue to trust in the functionality and reliability of digital services. In order to solve the problems linked to minors using social media, we need a systematic and age-appropriate digital awareness training for children, teenagers, parents, and teachers, as well as in the society more broadly. Estonia also supports the recommendation in the report of the co-chairs of the Special Panel not to allow children under three years to use social media or other digital services and to make sure that their screen time is as short as possible. Estonia does not support the use of addictive design in digital services.
The EUAC approved the government positions on the EU KIDS Act by consensus.