Controversy over youth social media regulation… French parents file TikTok class action lawsuit
‘Extreme choices’ claim to cause ‘eating disorders’… In September, the EU imposed a fine of 500 billion won.
12 U.S. states join forces to file lawsuit
“Use of dopamine induction algorithm… “Adverse impact on adolescent mental health”
Australia-Europe focus on age restrictions
Experts: “Age regulations are a temporary measure… “Harmful content must be filtered to be effective.”
《’Restrictions on youth use of SNS’ creates a stir around the world
As voices warning of the various risks that social media pose to youth grow louder, major countries are rushing to come up with measures to regulate youth’s use of social media. However, there are also strong voices calling for ways to prevent the production of harmful content rather than short-term regulations.
“My daughter was a victim of social media algorithms.”
Charlize Dapuy Parquier, the daughter of Jeremy Parquier (44) and Delphine Dapuy (47), who live in the southern Riviera region of France, was an ordinary 15-year-old girl. I liked Harry Potter and synchronized swimming was my hobby. It is said that he was a child with a tender heart who was worried that he might step on an ant when he walked down the street.
But something started to go wrong after Charlize entered a private school. Mr. Parquier said, “One day, in the middle of the night, Charlize confessed that a classmate was bullying her.”
Charlize, whose mental health was worsening, seemed to gradually improve after taking antidepressants. However, as time went by, the time spent outside his room decreased. Then, on November 22nd last year (local time), Mr. Parquier, who was out, called Charlize, but she did not answer. When Mr. Parquier, who felt unusually ill, hurried home and opened the door, Charlize had already grown cold.
What Mr. Parquier and his wife found out later was an even bigger shock. Charlize’s friends told the couple, “The day before the accident, Charlize shared a video on TikTok introducing how to choose the extreme.” The couple didn’t know that their daughter had been immersed in TikTok for hours a day in her room. Dapuy told the British daily The Times, “I regret not being able to prevent my daughter from becoming addicted to bad content on social media.”
![Social media being regulated one after another around the world… Is ‘age restriction’ effective?[글로벌 포커스]](https://dimg.donga.com/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/12/27/130741958.1.jpg "Social media being regulated one after another around the world… Is ‘age restriction’ effective?[글로벌 포커스]")
Even if it is not Charlize’s case, it has long been pointed out that social media has a harmful influence on youth. Recently, lawsuits have been filed against social media companies in many countries around the world. Mr. and Mrs. Parquier also filed a lawsuit against TikTok last month, along with parents of children who have attempted suicide or suffered from eating disorders due to the influence of social media.
In fact, governments in many countries have recently been enacting laws that completely or partially ban youth use of social media. Social media companies are also preparing their own measures. However, some continue to raise questions about the effectiveness of such regulatory movements. This is because simply blocking youth access does not eliminate the already prevalent harmful content on social media.
● The problem is the ‘dopamine induction algorithm’
Seven families participated in the lawsuit filed by Mr. Parquier and his wife in a French court against TikTok. Two of the children made extreme choices, and four committed self-harm. Another suffers from an eating disorder. Laure Boutron Marmion, a lawyer representing the family, said, “This is the first time a class action lawsuit has been filed against a social media company in Europe,” and added, “As a company that provides products to young people, TikTok has an obligation to answer for the shortcomings of its products (algorithms, etc.). “There is,” he claimed.
The European Union (EU) previously imposed a fine of about $370 million (about 541.6 billion won) on TikTok in September. It is suspected of violating the Personal Information Protection Act by failing to properly protect children’s personal information. In the case of TikTok, the accounts of teenagers aged 13 to 17 are set to be public by default, and this is also considered a way for anyone to easily access teenagers’ personal information when abused. The UK also fined TikTok $15.9 million in April for the same reasons as the EU.
In the United States, a non-partisan coalition of state attorneys general in California, Kentucky, and New Jersey was formed and began investigating TikTok in March 2022. As a result, 12 U.S. states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against TikTok this October.
They argued that TikTok promotes excessive use of ‘short form’ content and that such content is harming youth mental health. State prosecutors believe that TikTok is becoming more addictive by constantly encouraging people to watch the next video. It is reported that about 170 million people in the United States use TikTok.
In particular, the District of Columbia named TikTok’s algorithm a ‘dopamine-inducing algorithm’ in its complaint. The lawsuit states, “TikTok’s design utilizes the neurotransmitter dopamine, which helps humans feel pleasure.” It was also pointed out that self-hatred about one’s appearance can be encouraged by using camera filters to make the photographer’s face look more like a white or European person, reinforcing stereotypes.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, was also sued by 33 U.S. states in October last year. The states argued that social media was “designed to push young people into harmful content.” It was also determined that personal data of teenagers was illegally collected without parental consent. This August, a lawsuit was also filed at the U.S. federal government level. The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission alleged that TikTok collected, used or disclosed personal information of children under the age of 13 without parental consent.
TikTok responded by saying, “We do not agree with these claims and many of them are inaccurate and misleading.” He also claimed, “We have strong safeguards in place, such as deleting personal information of youth users, limiting usage time, and setting default privacy protection settings for users under 16.” Mehta also said, “We strive to provide a safe environment for youth.”
● Age-based regulations in Australia, Europe, etc.
As various lawsuits against social media continue, some countries are also enacting laws banning the use of social media. Even if the bill is passed, it may take some time to be implemented due to lawsuits from individual companies, but the movement to regulate social media use appears to be gaining momentum.
On the 28th of last month, the Australian Parliament passed a bill completely banning the use of social media by youth under 16 years of age. Australia is the first country in the world to ban the use of social media without considering whether parental consent has been obtained. According to the bill, youth under the age of 16 are prohibited from creating social media accounts. In the future, social media companies in Australia will be required to check the age of users and take steps to prevent access to those under 16. Failure to comply will result in a fine of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars (approximately 45 billion won). The bill is scheduled to take effect from 2026.
The US state of Florida enacted a law in March this year banning the use of social media by youth under the age of 14. Even 14- and 15-year-olds require parental consent to create an account. In March of last year, Utah passed a law requiring children under the age of 18 to obtain parental consent to create a social media account.
In the case of France, a law was passed in 2023 allowing youth under 15 years of age to create social media accounts with parental consent. However, social discussions have not yet taken place and it has not yet been implemented. According to Reuters, France is also considering banning the possession of mobile phones by children under the age of 11.
The most extreme example is Albania in Eastern Europe. Starting in January of next year, a ban was imposed on people of all ages and genders from accessing TikTok for one year. Last month, an incident occurred in which a 14-year-old male student killed his friend with a weapon, and it was reported that they had been arguing through social media. Afterwards, as videos saying ‘supporting murder’ poured into TikTok, the authorities responded with a hard-line policy of banning access in their country.
Amid the all-out regulatory movement, social media are also coming up with their own measures. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat have changed their usage rules to require users to be at least 13 years old to create an account. In addition, it allows children’s accounts to be linked to their parents’ accounts, allowing some degree of control over the posts exposed to teenagers.
● “We must focus on filtering harmful content”
However, there are mainly negative views on how effective social media age regulations and social media companies’ own measures will be. Lisa Given, a professor of information science at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, told the New York Times, “The most effective regulation is for social media companies to come up with fundamental measures to better manage and remove harmful content.” It is pointed out that regulations focusing on age restrictions will only be a temporary measure.
Another problem is that age limit regulations have many loopholes. Hyeonjae Yoo, a professor at the Department of Communication at Sogang University, said, “We can somehow find a way to circumvent it, such as through a virtual private network (VPN),” and predicted, “There is a high possibility that such regulations will just become a laughing stock.” Some say that social media regulation itself can be an infringement on freedom of expression, so we need to be cautious.
Experts ultimately agreed that filtering out harmful content in advance is the most realistic method. Kim Chang-nam, a professor at Kyung Hee University’s Graduate School of Journalism and Information, said, “Rather than legal regulations, we need to build a platform to filter harmful content,” and added, “Related laws and policies should also be enacted in a way that exerts influence on platforms that do not implement them.”