Portugal's parliament approved a bill on Thursday (12 February), on its first reading, requiring explicit parental consent for children aged 13 to 16-years old to access social media, in one of the first concrete legislative moves in Europe to impose such restrictions.
Authors of the draft legislation from the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) say it is needed to protect children from cyberbullying, harmful content and predatory individuals.
A public system known as Digital Mobile Key (DMK) will be used by parents to give consent, also helping to enforce the existing ban for children under the age of 13 to access digital social media, video and image-sharing platforms, or online betting sites.
Tech providers are also required to implement an age verification system compatible with the DMK.
The bill, approved by 148-69 votes with 13 abstentions, can still be modified before the final vote.
The Portuguese bill says it will fill a regulatory gap that has allowed "multinational digital platforms to set rules unilaterally", affecting children's cognitive and emotional development, particularly with early or excessive exposure.
It says that over the past two decades, social media has assumed roles long held by families and schools without regulation.
"We have to protect our children...we don't intend to prohibit for the sake of prohibiting, we intend to create a norm to give more power to parents and families, to accompany and control," PSD lawmaker Paulo Marcelo said before the vote.
He said that tech companies ignoring the restrictions could face fines of up to 2% of their global revenue.
Meanwhile, last month, France's lower house backed legislation to ban children under 15-years old from social media amid growing concerns about online bullying and mental health risks.
Australia's world-first ban for under-16s on social media platforms including Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube came into force in December.
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