After the responsibility of social networks, that of parents and professionals: French MPs on Monday adopted measures to protect children’s privacy in the digital world, before addressing the prevention of their excessive exposure to screens.
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The draft on the image rights of minors, introduced by the Renaissance MP Bruno Studer with the support of the government, was adopted unanimously and by consensus in the first reading.
The text, which now has to be examined by the Senate, aims to protect children from the excesses of certain parents who uninhibitedly expose them, especially on social networks.
MPs then began examining another bill earlier in the evening, sponsored by Macronist MP Caroline Janvier, to deal with increasing screen time through better adult awareness.
Last Thursday, the assembly dealt with social networks by voting in first reading on the obligation for TikTok, Snapchat or other Instagram profiles, the age of their users, as well as parental consent to the registration of children under 15 years old under threat of sanctions to check.
MP Studer’s bill introduces the concept of the child’s “private life” into the definition of parental authority in the Civil Code.
It stipulates that the image rights of minors are exercised jointly by both parents. In case of disagreement, the judge can prohibit one of them from publishing pictures of the child.
In serious situations, even “the way to a forced transfer of parental authority” is open, which allows a judge to entrust a third party with the exercise of the child’s image rights.
This law aims to “empower parents” but also to signal to minors that “parents do not have an absolute right to their image,” Mr. Studer argued.
According to parliamentarians and the executive branch, on average a child “appears before 13 networks in 1,300 photos published online.
Associations denounce abuse, e.g. B. that of family “vlogs” (video blogs) maintained by parents who rush to “like” by revealing their children’s privacy, sometimes in search of advertising revenue.
Some images can lead to “cyberharassment” of children or “endanger their credibility for future school or professional applications,” stressed Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti, who supported the text “strongly and with conviction”.
The second text, currently under revision, addresses overexposure from screens, a “spectre of the century that is still largely underestimated by those around young children”, according to MP Caroline Janvier (Renaissance).
His bill would include in the Public Health Code training on the risks associated with screens for health and early childhood professionals, as well as including prevention notices on the packaging of computers, tablets and phones.
The text also provides that early childhood and school structures contain restrictive rules on the use of screens for supervisors.
In particular, he asks parents to include recommendations for correct use in the pregnancy diary. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the High Council on Public Health recommend that children should not be exposed to screens before the age of two.
Excessive screen viewing is a “widespread phenomenon” with “increased risks of obesity,” “insomnia” and “high blood pressure,” Ms Janvier warned.
The executive, which supports these parliamentary initiatives, also wants to take action on these issues, particularly through its information platform jeprotegemonenfant.gouv.fr
France will soon be the first country in the world to generalize the presence of parental control software “by default” on all devices sold on its territory, underlined last week the Minister Delegated for the Digital Transition Jean-Noël Barrot.
The government also plans to test an age verification solution in March that would block underage access to pornographic sites.