I have already written here about the risks of a purely prohibitive approach to minors’ access to the digital environment, defending a model of responsible access, which protects without excluding.
The presence of children and young people is now unavoidable in a digital environment. Digital platforms offer opportunities for learning, socialization and civic participation. Even though these advantages coexist, side by side, with obvious risks, especially when the operating model is based on the intensive collection of personal data and mechanisms designed to maximize usage time.
Unlike the Spanish solution, which aims to prohibit access until the age of 16, in Portugal the Social Democratic Party presented a bill that opts for a more balanced solution. The proposed regime is based on the idea of progressive autonomy, on the certainty that access to the digital environment is never prohibited. Up to 16 years of age, the use of digital platforms depends on informed and verified consent from the minor’s legal guardian, with the capacity to consent being recognized between 16 and 18 years of age.
This option is particularly relevant from the point of view of personal data protection. Consent, as required by the General Data Protection Regulation, presupposes understanding and maturity. It is not just any consent that constitutes lawful processing for the processing of personal data, nor is consent an open clause for any and all use of personal data. Therefore, assuming generalized understanding and maturity of minors is as risky as the opposite.
Involving families is not a setback, nor a limitation to the development of economic activity, but rather a reconciliation between the protection of minors and their harmonious development with the advantages provided by the entire digital environment.
The Bill presented also has the merit of refocusing responsibility on digital service providers. The protection of minors no longer depends solely on the user and becomes part of the design of the platforms themselves, with effective rules on age verification, safe default settings and prohibition of addictive practices.
The Portuguese people have long assured that Spain has “neither a good wind nor a good marriage” and they can continue to do so. Because between the absolute prohibition and the absence of rules, Portugal seems to choose the most demanding path: protecting minors, involving families and holding digital service providers accountable.
As I wrote before, prohibition is still prohibited.
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