Greece is “very close” to announcing a social media ban for children aged under 15, a senior government source told Reuters on Tuesday.
Spain said on Tuesday that it plans to ban social media for those aged under 16 and will create a law to hold social media executives personally responsible for hate speech on their platforms.
France eyes VPN crackdown to enforce social media ban for minors
France is weighing in new measures to restrict minors’ access to social media as the government advances a proposed ban for children under 15, and some officials are already signaling that virtual private networks (VPNs) could be next.
France’s Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs, Anne Le Henanff, told public broadcaster Franceinfo that the government may target VPNs in the future.
“If this legislation allows us to protect a very large majority of children, we will continue. And VPNs are the next topic on my list,” she said.
A VPN can permit users, including those under 15, to bypass national restrictions by masking their location or identity. VPNs also grew more widespread in the United Kingdom (UK) after the government presented laws requiring age verification to access certain online content.