The Council of Ministers has approved this week the draft of the organic law for the protection of minors in digital environments, within the Government’s purpose of promoting a “great country agreement” for health, well-being and security until … adolescence. The new regulation raises the minimum age to open an account on social networks from 14 to 16 years old, obliges manufacturers of mobile phones, tablets and other devices to incorporate parental control tools in them and establishes that pediatric reviews include the detection of possible technology addiction problems. This is an initiative of enormous relevance that will cover gaps and needs that the entire citizenry has been pointing out as a real cry.
There is, however, the risk that the all-encompassing desire of the norm limits its effectiveness by placing on the same plane the legislative intervention on the behavior of minors and families, and the corrections that the Penal Code would require. It is not advisable to give the legislative task the thaumaturgic capacity to change the reality of an open society in a complex time. The text, still subject to possible changes in its preparation and to those that may be incorporated in its parliamentary processing, includes reasonable measures, to whose effective compliance – not always easy to guarantee – adequate pedagogy from childhood would contribute.
The problem is not solved with a law, no matter how complete it may be. The digital environment is, above all, social. It is society, it is the citizens, who are transformed in that dimension, which with artificial intelligence becomes more unpredictable in its effects on freedom itself. The legislative task must be directed primarily at preventing risks such as random reward mechanisms and sanctioning criminal uses such as pornographic ‘deepfakes’. It would be up to the national strategy provided for in the standard to seek an active consensus that mobilizes the will – of families – in conjunction with the educational system. For example, to detect and address loneliness, which in no case can be accepted as desired at an early age. So that minors distribute their time in a healthier way. To promote screen-free activities and spaces. And to seek greater knowledge and skill in the digital environment as the ultimate guarantee that it does not become alienating.
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