Macron to Martin: EU Cannot Trust Parents on Social Media
Europe cannot trust parents to look after their children’s use of social media, French President Emmanuel Macron has told EU leaders, including Micheál Martin.
Macron has been at the forefront of efforts to ban kids from accessing digital platforms, with the French head of state gathering like-minded European leaders on April 16 to discuss how to quickly implement such a ban across the continent.
Speaking to the group, Macron denounced suggestions that parents should be given more tools to help their children navigate social media platforms safely, arguing that said parents have proven incapable of utilising them.
“We tried parent consent mechanisms, and it doesn’t work so well,” he said.
He went on to say that parents at the helm of so-called “vulnerable” families had proven particularly incompetent when it came to looking after their children online.
“So this is why we decided this ban under 15 (sic),” he concluded.
Writing on X, Taoiseach Micheál Martin — who attended the meeting virtually — described it as being “constructive”.
“Momentum building towards a common EU approach to protecting children online,” he said.
Also present was European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, whose recent efforts to launch an EU-wide digital age verification app got a shout-out from Macron, who described her work as “very important”.
Others online have expressed less positivity about the European Commission’s new software, with numerous tech researchers denouncing its reliance on proprietary Apple and Google products.
Some have suggested that the application, as currently designed is not fully secure, with videos being posted online claiming to show users bypassing security features, allowing them to access sensitive information.
