The platforms tighten controls for children and adolescents with parental supervision and time limits. While Australia chooses a ban and Europe focuses on rules, digital platforms introduce measures to balance security and freedom
Ban or regulate. There seem to be two paths followed in the world to address the digital safety of minors. YouTube now announces stricter controls on Shorts for children and teenagers. WhatsApp works on “secondary accounts” for minors, linked to those of their parents but without giving up end-to-end encryption. Two moves that come as Australia experiments with a different path: the ban on access to social media for under 16swhich came into force in December and which has already caused Meta to be canceled further 544 thousand accounts. And in Europe the path of “less generalized bans, more” seems to be gaining ground rules and responsibilities for platforms”. The European Parliament has relaunched the hypothesis of a digital age of consent uniform and national initiatives, including in Italy, aim to increase the age of access but above all to build a protection system that combines technology, digital education and parental control.
YouTube: time limits and stop on Shorts for minors
YouTube has announced a strengthening of parental controls aimed in particular at Shorts, short videos modeled on TikTok and Instagram Reels. The stated objective is to reduce the scroll infinite and little aware, especially among children and adolescents. Parents will be able to set custom time limits for viewing the Shorts on your children’s connected accounts, choosing intervals ranging from 15 minutes up to a maximum of two hours. There is also an even more restrictive option: the total block of Shorts, permanent or temporary, for example during study hours. Alongside time limits come personalized reminders such as “Bedtime” (bedtime) and “Take a break” (take a break), notifications that invite you to stop watching. Similar functions already exist for adults, but are now being adapted specifically for under 18 accountswho will not be able to independently modify or deactivate the settings decided by adults. The news comes after last year’s change, when YouTube introduced a system AI-based age estimationcapable of analyzing account activity and registration data to identify any discrepancies between real and declared age. The registration process will also change in the coming weeks, making it easier for parents to immediately define the correct demographic category and quickly switch between adult accounts and children’s accounts.
WhatsApp: secondary accounts for kids are coming
WhatsApp is also preparing for a turning point in the management of minors. The development of secondary accounts designed for children and teenagers. These profiles will be connected directly to the parent or guardian’s accountallowing active but non-invasive supervision. The key point concerns the contact security. By default, sub accounts will be able to receive messages and calls only from numbers in the address bookdrastically reducing the risk of unwanted contact, solicitation or scams. Parents will be able to authorize new contacts, limit access to groups and review privacy settings, often overlooked by younger people. It stays though end-to-end encryption is untouched. The content of messages and calls will also remain inaccessible to parents. Supervision will concern contacts, settings and times of use, but not reading chats.
