French president Emmanuel Macron said Europe must come up with a cohesive approach to protecting children online as the bloc grapples with how to regulate social networks.
Macron spoke with the leaders of Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece and Ireland and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday. He said coordination would “strengthen both the protection of children and teenagers in the digital space as well as the obligations and responsibilities of major online platforms,” in the call streamed on the X platform.
Europe is looking for ways to present a unified front as calls for the bans grow from parents and regulators, concerned about addictive designs and harmful content. A Los Angeles jury found Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s Google negligent in the design and operation of their sites last month, in a verdict that’s adding fuel to a movement to restrict the sites.
Several European countries, including France, Spain and Greece, are considering restrictions. But proposals vary – with different minimum ages and systems to protect children – risking a patchwork of rules. Macron wants to channel those efforts into a unified framework at the European Union level.
The Trump administration has lashed out against Europe over free speech issues, including EU protections against hate speech and election interference that have resulted in warnings and fines against big US tech companies. Still, additional protections for children online are gaining support in the US, and several states, including Florida, California and Nebraska, have introduced restrictions. Several countries in Asia Pacific are also cracking down on teen use, including Australia and Indonesia.
In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with officials from Meta, Elon Musk’s X, TikTok, Google and Snap on Thursday, calling on them to demonstrate how their products can be made safer for children. He said the “consequences of failing to act are stark.”
Europe is the second-largest region for many tech firms after North America, thanks to widespread tech adoption and a mature online advertising ecosystem. For both Snap and Meta, revenue is growing faster in Europe than in the US.
On the eve of the meeting, von der Leyen, who leads the EU’s executive arm, unveiled an open-source app to confirm users’ age online, laying out a European standard for verification technology. While the software was originally pitched as a way to prevent children from accessing obscene or harmful content online, the app is largely seen as a step toward a EU-wide approach to social media restrictions. Von der Leyen has appointed a panel of experts to deliver recommendations on the topic this year.