New Italian awareness-raising campaign: “If you are not of age, social networks can wait"

The Italian Data Protection Authority (DPA) and Telefono Azzurro (the helpline component of the Italian Safer Internet Centre (SIC)) are working together to protect children’s rights in the digital environment with a new awareness-raising campaign aimed at highlighting minimum age requirements for use of social networking sites.

Date 2021-03-31 Author Italian Data Protection Authority and Telefono Azzurro Section hotlines, industry Topic potentially harmful content, technical settings Audience children and young people, parents and carers
Young girl using a smartphone

New Italian awareness-raising campaign: 'If you are not of age, social networks can wait'

New Italian awareness-raising campaign: “If you are not of age, social networks can wait”

The Data Protection Authority initiated a formal urgent proceeding against TikTok in December 2020, and has notified several violations including poor attention to the protection of minors, the easy circumvention of the registration ban the company applies to children under 13, non-transparent and unclear information provided to users, and default settings falling short of privacy requirements. Consequently, TikTok has implemented measures to ban access to users aged below 13 years and it has launched its own information campaign. Moreover, the company will improve the wording of its short privacy notice for users under 18 and is considering deploying AI-based systems for age verification purposes.

The Italian DPA and Telefono Azzurro have launched its awareness-raising campaign on national TV channels to foster safeguards for children in the digital environment. The campaign is aimed at calling upon parents to actively supervise and pay special attention to situations where their children are requested to enter their age in order to access TikTok and other social networks.

Find out more about the work of the Italian Safer Internet Centre, including its awareness raising, helpline, hotline and youth participation services – or find similar information for Safer Internet Centres throughout Europe.

Related news