“Currently, the EU is preparing a legislative initiative to establish a uniform age limit for social network users, so changing national legal regulations before the proposal of a specific EU legal act would be a suboptimal measure,” the ministry stated in an opinion submitted this week.
The community is considering the possibility of banning social networks, with some EU countries, including Greece and France, calling to restrict access and increasing pressure to introduce a block-wide ban similar to Australia’s, where platforms are required to remove accounts of persons under 16 years old.
Experts have recommended that children under 13 use internet platforms only under supervision, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said that children should be given “phased and gradual access” to social networks.
In early April, after submission, the Seimas approved the proposal of opposition conservative MP Daiva Ulbinaitė to legalize the age of digital majority and oblige social network service providers not to allow persons under 16 years old to become independent social network users.
According to the amendments, platforms would be obliged to ensure that persons under 16 years old cannot register or use services without a legal basis. Networks that do not comply with the restrictions would face fines.
The Ministry of Culture, which prepared the opinion for the project, assures that to avoid incompatibility of regulation in Lithuania with EU legal acts, it is proposed not to initiate changes at this time.
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Former Prime Minister and current Minister of Social Security and Labour Inga Ruginienė, when the Seimas began considering this proposal, stated that employment, not prohibition, is the most successful measure against addictions.
Meanwhile, Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas said he viewed the amendments skeptically but did not rule out that restrictions could exist in some form.
The Minister of the Interior said in a July interview with BNS that some extent of restriction for social networks up to 16 years old should exist. In turn, Education, Science and Sports Minister Raminta Popovienė believes that when considering such a possibility, this issue should first be discussed with the public.
A survey conducted by “Baltic Research” commissioned by LRT in March showed that 75% of surveyed Lithuanian residents would agree to introduce restrictions on social network use for minors under 15 years old, but almost half (40%) of schoolchildren and students opposed the ban.
