Many countries in Europe, including France, Greece, Spain, Denmark, Britain, Germany, and many more, are either considering investigating social media platforms over harmful content or considering the imposition of bans on social media access by minors. Why, you may be wondering, is this happening at this point in time?
One strong reason is the example that Australia set by passing and implementing a law last year restricting children below 16 from accessing social media platforms. The rationale for imposing that ban was to safeguard children from risks like cyberbullying, exposure to sexualized or inappropriate content, among other reasons. The factors that pushed Australia to take that unprecedented action also exist, to varying degrees, in many European countries or around the world.
It is therefore not surprising that many countries in Europe are either investigating social media platforms or are weighing the possibility of instituting a ban similar to what Australia imposed.
Another possible reason is frustration or lack of confidence in the ability of the EU to act on this particular concern of many member states. Countries are opting to handle the matter by themselves because they aren’t sure the EU will handle the matter strongly enough or even expeditiously.
It should be noted that the EU has a law, the Digital Services Act, under which social media platforms could be fined a maximum of 6% of their global annual revenue if found culpable for not curbing harmful or illegal content. However, implementing this law faces complex diplomatic, legal and enforcement challenges. The European countries seeking to implement similar laws will also face those same challenges.
European countries are also taking on tech firms owning social media platforms due to the current geopolitical climate. Relations between Europe and the U.S. are currently strained, and European countries say American tech companies are adversely impacting societies in Europe and they need to be stopped.
For example, Pablo Bustinduy, the minister of Consumer Rights in Spain, told a news outlet that some social media platforms were being used to destabilize democracies in Europe from within. Such comments need not be dismissed outright given the storm that arose when Elon Musk used his platform X to make very strong and sometimes controversial comments about the way some European countries are being governed. Musk’s views triggered a backlash against Tesla in Europe and the company is struggling to regain its market dominance.
It is therefore likely that souring relations between the U.S. and Europe are stoking the current push to take on the tech companies behind major social media platforms. This doesn’t in any way downplay the fact that there are legitimate concerns about the content on those platforms, so geopolitics may be providing one more reason to take action at this point in time. It remains to be seen how tech titans like Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) navigate the headwinds against social media gathering pace in Europe.
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