Despite evidence suggesting that teen social media bans in Australia are not yet having the intended impact, officials in the EU are pushing ahead with their own plans for teen social media bans. Bloomberg reported that Emmanuel Macron, president of France, is leading the charge to implement EU-wide rules on teen app access.
EU leaders are meeting this week to discuss the next steps in the proposal, which will likely see all teens in the EU under age 16 banned from social media apps.
Bloomberg reported that the leaders of Spain, the Netherlands and Ireland are expected to join the discussion, along with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as they work towards the next stage of the proposed restrictions.
This comes as new research highlights flaws in Australia’s teen social media ban approach, which went into effect in December.
In what’s considered the first major test case of broad-reaching teen social media restrictions, research published by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner last month showed that despite many teen accounts being restricted or banned across all the major social apps in Australia, 70% of teens are still accessing social media platforms, and have had little trouble side-stepping the restrictions.
Another new study, published earlier this week by online harm prevention group the Molly Rose Foundation, and based on responses from 1,050 Australian children between the ages 12 and 15, found that 61% of children were still able to access social media platforms despite the bans. In addition, the study found that teens are often operating several accounts, with a view toward circumventing future ban attempts.
The data showed that restricting tech-savvy teens will be a tougher ask than some had hoped. As part of the new law’s implementation, authorities in Australia had also outlined a range of systems that social media platforms could use to keep teens out of their apps, but clearly, those methods need some refinement.
And while Australia’s eSafety Commission also said that it will be looking to increase enforcement penalties for platforms that fail to detect and remove teens, the data suggests this isn’t going to be a straightforward task, and that broad-scale bans, in general, may not actually be the answer.
This is something many industry experts have said since the beginning of the teen social ban discussion. Social platforms, like them or not, are such a significant element in the modern interactive process that banning them entirely is not only not helpful, but is also likely impossible, at least in terms of legislative goals.
Because really, when discussions surrounding social media bans also include banning online connection more broadly. However, these days, teens are more reliant on digital connection than ever. They’ve grown up with YouTube, and progressed to TikTok, then Snapchat, with each forming a foundational pillar in how teens stay in touch with the wider world.
The importance of that connection was further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, within which the only social connection that teens had was via online games and messaging apps.
That arguably cemented this behavior, which means that, at best, all these restrictions are likely to do is push teens toward less mainstream platforms in order to maintain connection, as opposed to eliminating the dangers of social apps entirely.
Add to this the fact that a new scientific analysis of cumulative research into the topic, published by JAMA Pediatrics courtesy of American Medical Association, has suggested that links between social media use and poor mental health among youth are inconsistent across studies. The report specifically noted that “current research falls short of adequately targeting the specific populations required to draw accurate inferences about this matter.”
In other words, there is no definitive evidence to suggest that broad-scale social media restrictions will have the intended impact on teen mental health, even if those bans are properly enforced. Indeed, the Australian eSafety Commission’s initial report on the ban said there hasn’t been “a discernible drop” in overall reports to the commission regarding social media harm among teens.
The key challenges, then, lie in improved enforcement, which could be enacted with app store-level restrictions that would then be applied to all apps, not just selected social media platforms.
It seems viable, through app store level restrictions, that access restrictions could be implemented, but the balance of evidence suggests that improved digital literacy education is likely a better solution.
Regardless, more regions are going to move ahead with teen social media restrictions, and EU officials are exploring the next steps.
