Responding to the passing of a bill by France’s parliament banning children under 15 from accessing social media and restricting the use of phones in schools, Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said:
“There is no doubt that regulating platforms to protect children is an imperative of our time. We commend states for taking social media harms seriously but rather than pursuing blanket bans, efforts should be on forcing platforms to abandon their reckless pursuit of profit to the detriment of human rights.
“Building safe platforms requires a robust response. To ensure platforms are spaces where children can access community, connection and knowledge in a healthy and safe way, governments should first focus on banning the features that drive harm, including engagement-based algorithms that Amnesty International’s research has shown can draw children into rabbit holes of depressive and suicidal content. Any proposed solution must also proactively address the increasing risks posed by AI chatbots to children’s rights and safety.
“Bans alone, without any requirements to change the underlying algorithms and addictive features, will leave children who manage to circumnavigate age-gates, older children and adults exposed to the same risks.
