Children and Digital Technology: Balancing Protection and Rights

In the European Union, each Member State sets the age at which minors can independently consent to the processing of their personal data. In France, this age is 15. However, minors under 18 do not have the legal capacity in France to enter into contracts, except for routine acts of daily life. The challenge lies in achieving a balance between ensuring minors' protection (by platforms or legal representatives) and respecting their rights as individuals.

1. Adapting Digital Services for Children

Digital platforms must tailor their services to the unique needs of minors rather than simply replicating adult-oriented interfaces and features. Companies will be required to assess the risks their services pose to children (such as exposure to inappropriate content, excessive data collection, or profiling practices) and implement enhanced protection measures to mitigate these risks and ensure minors benefit from a higher level of safety.

2. Age Verification and Consent Collection

The concept of a "digital age" is central to protecting minors. Depending on the type of activity (e.g., creating a social media account, making an online purchase), different forms of consent may be required:

• Minor’s consent: When they are deemed capable of discernment, and the activity falls within routine daily life.
  
• Legal representatives’ consent: When the activity exceeds this framework.
  
• Joint consent: For specific cases, such as matters involving image rights.

Age verification presents both technical (ensuring effectiveness) and legal (ensuring transparency and compliance) challenges.

The SREN law (Act No. 2024-449 of 21 May 2024) addressed this by mandating ARCOM (French authority for digital communication), with input from the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL), to establish a reference framework in October 2024. This framework defines the minimum technical standards for age verification systems for accessing pornographic content. The widespread implementation and standardization of these systems will be a key focus for digital stakeholders in the coming years.

3. Use of Social Networks and Protecting Children’s Images

Social networks expose minors to heightened risks, including the illegal distribution of images, child pornography, and cyberbullying. Effective regulation of platforms and awareness campaigns for minors are crucial to combating these abuses and protecting children in digital spaces.

To that aim, the Act n° 2023-566 of 7 July 2023, aimed at establishing a digital majority and combating online hate, was officially published in the French legal framework. One of its key provisions sets the digital majority at 15 years old, requiring social media platforms to refuse registration to users under this age. However, despite its adoption, the law is not yet in force, as it still requires approval by the European Commission under EU law. The legislative process is therefore ongoing, and further work is expected in 2025 to finalize its implementation.

Conclusion

The increasing integration of children into the digital world requires a nuanced approach that ensures their safety, respects their rights, and equips them to navigate online environments responsibly. This will involve in the next year a collaboration between legislators, platforms, parents, and educators to create a safer digital future for the youngest users.