The government, in collaboration with a number of organizations, is now taking steps to protect children and young people from tech giants and social media. On Monday, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced a new alliance consisting of the government and children and youth organizations. The purpose is to protect the young generation from the harmful aspects of tech giants’ business models and the addictive mechanisms of social media.
“The alliance has been formed to take the side of children in the fight against tech giants who do not have children’s best interests at heart. If they did, their products would not be designed in this way,” Mette Frederiksen told Politiken. She points to features such as infinite scrolling and tech giants’ lack of effort in removing harmful content.
In addition to the government, the alliance consists of Save the Children (Red Barnet), Children’s Rights (Børns VilkÃ¥r), and Danish Youth Council (Dansk Ungdoms FællesrÃ¥d). One of the specific goals is to introduce a European ban on profiling children, so they are not exposed to targeted content and advertisements. The alliance will also work on gathering experiences and spreading political initiatives to the Nordic countries and the EU. Furthermore, the aim is to establish clear boundaries for what content algorithms may show to children and young people to ensure a safe online environment.
The alliance is anchored in the Ministry of Industry, Business, and Financial Affairs (Erhvervsministeriet), but the Ministry of Culture (Kulturministeriet) and the Ministry of Digitalization (Digitaliseringsministeriet) will also play a role. The Prime Minister emphasizes that the initiative is not partisan and has broad support in Danish society.
Earlier this year, Mette Frederiksen and the Social Democrats’ EU lead candidate Christel Schaldemose launched a similar initiative at the EU level. The Social Democrats proposed raising the age limit to 15 years for access to social media, supported by age verification across EU countries, similar to MitID.