The Blog of the European Association for Digital Transition
The complexity of the digital environment and the protection of minors within it is a multifaceted challenge. There is no single measure that can completely solve this problem.
In this sense, the preliminary draft of the Organic Law for the protection of minors in the digital environment, presented by the Spanish government, offers real progress. But it also creates significant concerns.
Read more
The European Association for Digital Transition (EADT) takes a positive view on the draft law to protect minors in the digital realm, presented on June 4, 2024 following the Council of Ministers meeting. But all these measures could end up being ineffective if they are not implemented ambitiously, demanding accountability from platforms and online services, and with political consensus above and beyond partisanship. “It is not about pressuring companies just because, but rather about protecting children and adolescents from specific phenomena that are very dangerous”, says Ana Caballero, vice president of the EADT and spokeswoman for the organisation on issues affecting minors.
Read more
The vice president of the European Association for Digital Transition (EADT), Ana Caballero, recently took part in some seminars held by the Andalusian Parliament. Organised by the Audiovisual Council of Andalusia, the session ‘The consequences of being the first digital natives’ analysed from various perspectives the risks involved in the overexposure of minors to screentime.
Read more
Bringing back a style that has been absent for decades, what is being called the “Letta report” – drafted by former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta on behalf of the European Council – is causing a major stir in European institutions. In part, it is a much-needed self-criticism. But it is also in part a wake-up call for the parliamentary majority that will emerge from the upcoming European elections and, with it, the shaping of the new College of Commissioners. Letta brings back one of the basic concepts on which all European politics must pivot, which is the “single market”, and what he defines as “five basic freedoms”: the ones that Jacques Delors formulated in his day – the free movement of people, goods, services and capital – and adding a fifth related to research, innovation and education.
Read more
The news that New York City was filing a lawsuit against various social media companies including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube appeared in the media and then quickly disappeared. At first glance, it may seem like a complaint doomed to failure. Nevertheless, that is not so.
Read more
The group of fifty experts convened by the Ministry of Youth and Children to improve the protection of minors in the digital realm, chaired by Ana Caballero, had its first meeting on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Its job is to develop a roadmap that, in the coming months, will be the basis for the subsequent report on the protection of minors, adolescents and young people in the digital environment. Special interest will be placed on phenomena such as cyberbullying, the effect of social media on adolescent mental health or the access to extreme content.
Read more
The State Pact to protect minors in the digital realm – an initiative promoted by the European Association for Digital Transition (EADT) – continues to gain momentum. On February 13, 2024, the EADT organised a presentation of the proposal with a symposium in the Congress of Deputies, which was inaugurated by the president of the Chamber, Francina Armengol.
It was a full morning of work and reflection, structured around several roundtables and speeches. Below please find a summary and videos from the three roundtables, as well as the final speeches by the president of the EADT, Ricardo Rodríguez Contreras, and the minister of Youth and Children, Sira Rego.
Read more
Advocates for the State Pact to protect minors in the digital realm – the European Association for Digital Transition, Dale una Vuelta, Fundación ANAR, iCMedia, Save The Children and UNICEF España – presented their initiative on Tuesday, February 13, in the Congress of Deputies with a symposium entitled “The protection of minors in the digital realm: a social and political challenge”. The event aimed to strengthen consensus and encourage the participation of civil society in the face of political and legislative initiatives expected over the coming months, following the announcement of a law to prevent minors from accessing pornography and the creation, from the Ministry of Youth and Children, of a working group of experts in which several of these organizations form part, among them the European Association for Digital Transition itself.
Read more
The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has announced that the government wants to approve a law to prevent minors from accessing pornographic content online. It is, to date, the most important step forward in a political debate that has been growing ever louder in recent months, and in which the European Association for Digital Transition has been involved from the start.
Read more
The proposal for a state pact to defend minors in the digital realm now has its own website. At www.pactomenoresdigitales.org, associations, foundations, regulators and citizens can find all the information about this civil society initiative, which is designed to provide a basis for consensus regarding the problems children and adolescents are facing in digital environments.
Read more