The Danish government has decided to make a law issuing that the different social media platforms need the parent consent before children under the age of 15 can create a profile on their platform. Google has adjusted so they follow the Danish law. Chinese TikTok and American Snapchat have not.
The law has been made after a Danish documentary was published. The documentary was called “Home alone online”, and was about the traumatic things Danish teenager and children see online, especially on social media platform. Earlier it was possible for children down to the age of 13 to create profiles on social media platforms. Now it is only possible in Denmark if you are 15, and if a child wish to create a profile when they are younger. Denmark wants the platforms to ask for the parents consent.
The lack of adjustment from the Chinese platform TikTok and the American platform Snapchat has made multiple Danish politicians and experts criticize the platforms:
“The social media platforms need to respect the decision made by the democratically elected when it comes to protecting their minors from risks,” says Ask Hesby, director in the organization Digital Responsibility in Denmark.
TikTok and Snapchat wrote to the Danish media Politiken, that they are operating according to GDPR rules in Europe.
This lack of willingness from the social media has made the Danish politician Lisbeth Bech-Nielsen state that she will request a meeting with the Danish Minister of Justice, Peter Hummelgaard.
Source: Politiken
