Скриншот эфира
Belarus does not plan to introduce age restrictions for social media users. This was stated by Uladzimir Piartsou, deputy head of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s administration. According to him, there are currently no mechanisms in the country to enforce such limits.
On the sidelines of a meeting of the Information Ministry’s board, Piartsou was asked whether social networks should be blocked for minors. Similar restrictions are currently being adopted in a number of countries.
“First of all, we are not talking about blocking social networks for children aged 15–16, but about introducing age limits and other thresholds that have already been legislatively adopted, including in neighboring countries. Taking into account that social networks are increasingly influencing the younger generation, which as it grows up does not gain experience in reading printed newspapers and remains loyal to its digital platforms, through which we can quite effectively promote our truth about the country.
Government administrations in some countries are taking measures that restrict social networks for children up to a certain age under the pretext of their insidious algorithms and psychological impact, allowing access only at a more or less conscious age. For now, we are not planning to adopt regulatory decisions regarding age restrictions or other parameters,” he said.
According to Piartsou, the mechanism for verifying the age of young users is complicated. There is no guarantee that the person logging into an account is actually the one who is declared.
“There is no guarantee which user is entering a social network under a particular nickname at any given moment. At the same time, we know that attempts to influence our youth are already taking place through gaming platforms and social networks.
These social networks begin collecting personal data, forcing a young person, often a child, to provide a scan or photo of a passport or another document in order to gather the entire digital profile of that person in a certain storage database to understand who is entering under which nickname, what resources they visit, what they play, what they search for, and what they forward. We see this, we observe it, and for now we are drawing only preliminary conclusions.
We see what is happening with Telegram and TikTok, how some once dominant social networks are fading, and how significant changes are taking place in the media landscape. What this will lead to and how we should integrate into it remains an open question for regulatory bodies,” he added.