Netherlands again considering ban on social media for kids under 15
Around six months after the previous Dutch government decided to urge parents to keep their kids off social media, instead of implementing a ban, the newly sworn-in Jetten I Cabinet has put the option of a ban back on the table. The D66, VVD, and CDA coalition agreement states that the government wants “an enforceable minimum age of 15 for social media,” NU.nl reports.
The plans are still very vague, only saying that enforcement of this age limit must be done with “privacy-friendly age verification for young people, as long as social media remains insufficiently secure.” The agreement does not clarify when the government will consider social media sufficiently secure or what the coalition parties mean by “privacy-friendly age verification.”
The question is how much sense a ban makes. Experts are still undecided about this, according to the newspaper.
Vivian den Blanken, an expert in media education at the Netherlands Youth Institute, advocates against a complete ban. “We want to protect children from harmful effects and disturbing images,” she told NU.nl. “But instead of addressing those, we’re taking something away from them, and thus also the benefits of being online.”
Freek Zwanenburg of the Youth and Media Bureau thinks the government should involve young people more in discussions about this ban. “It’s easy to impose a ban over their heads,” he told the newspaper. Many young people are in favor of limiting social media use in one way or another, he said. “Some find it difficult to stop. Others mention the positive aspects. Both are valuable pieces of information.”
ICT lawyer Arnoud Engelfriet sees many practical obstacles to a blanket ban, with enforcement being the biggest issue. “There’s no reliable infrastructure to prove someone is 15 or older. Platforms use different techniques for this. It’s not uniform,” he told the newspaper.
Engelfriet advocates for a gradual approach to social media use, instead of a ban. “If a child suddenly starts using it at 15, it’s like running into a bar on your 18th birthday and getting completely wasted. That doesn’t work. You have to build up to it, with guidance and media literacy.”
A recent study by Newcom found that, strikingly, support for banning children from social media is growing fastest among Gen Z, people between the ages of 16 and 28. The survey found that 60 percent of Gen Z are in favor of a ban. The survey also found that almost half of the 14.6 million Dutch people who are active on social media believe it poses a risk to their mental health.
