Denmark’s digital affairs minister criticized Meta for an advertising campaign promoting regulations on age checks for social media in an interview with POLITICO.
The blunt intervention from Caroline Stage Olsen — who from July will lead negotiations over potential new regulations to combat social media use by children — is a direct attack on the owner of Facebook and Instagram.
Meta’s Instagram has launched a prominent campaign in recent weeks calling for EU-wide regulations to ensure age checks take place at the app store or operating system level, moving obligations away from social media companies.
“I must be honest here, I was furious when I saw that advertisement,” Stage Olsen said. “It’s ridiculous that they make an advertisement instead of just doing it [implementing age restrictions].”
“I wish they would have spent the money on making a technical age verification solution instead of making a campaign stating how much they care,” she added.
The lobbying comes amid a flurry of interest in Brussels and EU capitals around the protection of minors online, with growing momentum for restrictions to limit or ban children from social media platforms to protect their mental health.
The Instagram campaign includes social media ads as well as advertising space on TV and bus stops in key EU capitals, including Brussels and Paris.
Expanding on her criticisms, Stage Olsen said: “Show it, don’t tell it, please. I’m so sick of empty words. We need action here … They are one of the most powerful companies, not just in Europe, but in the entire world. They have so much money that they earn on harvesting data from, of course, grown-ups, but also from children. They should spend the money on protecting our children, instead of making advertisements,” she said.
Meta declined to comment for this story.
Denmark is gearing up to take on the presidency of the Council of the EU and has already promised to take action in Brussels, calling the protection of children online “a key priority” for the six-month presidency.
However, while a growing number of countries favor some kind of action, there are significant divisions within the tech industry.
Meta’s argument is that a regulation forcing age checks to happen at the operating system or app store level is more comprehensive since it would then cover every social media platform. Its lobbying campaign will run in Belgium, Denmark, France and Italy until the end of June, a Meta spokesperson said previously.
Meta’s stance is strongly opposed by the likes of Apple and Google, which operate app stores and operating systems. These players argue that services like Instagram should implement age verification measures, and that’s the best way to ensure children stay safe online.
A solution to make app stores verify users’ age is portrayed “as ‘simple’ by its backers, including Meta,” but “fails to cover desktop computers or other devices that are commonly shared within families,” Google said in a blog post last week.
As the European Commission finalizes draft guidelines on the issue, Google’s recent submission slammed Meta’s campaign, saying that the EU’s Digital Services Act requires “all online platforms to take on the responsibility of offering age appropriate experiences” and that “the real risks and content are within the app,” not the app store.
The post Danish minister slams Meta’s lobbying amid fight over kids’ social media use appeared first on Politico.
