Norway intends to raise the age limit for social media use to 15 and aims to stop tech companies like Netflix from gathering personal data from children, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre acknowledged it would be an uphill battle but said policymakers must do something to protect children from the “power of the algorithms”.
He said the government would be amending the Personal Data Act so that social media users must be 15 years old to agree that the platform can handle their personal data.
Norway already has a minimum age limit of 13, but according to the Scandinavian media authority, more than half of nine-year-olds, 58% of 10-year-olds and 72% of 11-year-olds are on social media.
Minister for children and families Kjersti Toppe believes stricter online regulations would also help parents.
“It is also about giving parents the security to say no. We know that many people really want to say no, but don’t feel they can.”