The European Union imposes an age limit of 16+ on the use of social networks

The European Parliament adopted a law on data protection General Data Protection Regulation, which prohibits adolescents up to 16 years of age to register on social networks. Under the new law, the company has the right to process personal data of a teenager under 16 years old only with parental consent. This means effectively blocking teen access to social networks in the absence of parental control. And not only in social networks, but also in any other services that process personal data.

The law should enter into force in early 2017. It is valid by default in all 28 countries of the European Union, but each country has the right to unilaterally lower the age limit for its citizens.

Voting on the bill in the European Parliament took place on Tuesday, December 15.
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Similar restrictions in the European Union are now for children under 13 years old, so Facebook and others do not allow children younger than this age to register. The new bill will simply raise the age limit from 13 to 16 years.

To register with a service like Facebook, Snapchat, Whatsapp or Instagram, a teenager will need to give explicit consent from a parent or guardian.

It is interesting that absolutely everyone spoke against the new rules: not only technology companies, which is natural, but also human rights activists who advocate for children. They warn that the new rules significantly impede the use of social networks by adolescents, introduced without consultation and public comment.

A group of experts and public organizations in defense of the rights of children wrote an open letter to the European legislators, in which they express their arguments against the new age limit. They point out that the bill violates the fundamental rights of children to education and communication.

For IT companies, the main problem is that the new law will be technically difficult to comply with. It is not clear what the procedure for obtaining parental consent should be and how to check for the presence of parental control when using the service.

In addition to raising the age limit, the rules of the General Data Protection Regulation introduce the practice of fines up to 4% of annual income for IT companies for violating the rules for working with users' personal data online. In addition, the so-called “right to oblivion” (complete removal of personal data from the database) is now enshrined in law. Internet companies will also be required within three days to report all hacks related to data leaks. In the end, the rules apply absolutely to all Internet companies, even American ones, if among the users there are citizens of EU countries.