Subject: FW: Meta/FB - alaealiste piirangud sotsiaalmeedias
From: "Info - SOM" <[email-masked]>
To: "Info - SOM" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2025 10:30:10 +0300

From: Vitnija Saldava < <mailto:[email-masked]> [email-masked]>

Subject: Invitation to meet Meta on age verification / minor access to
social media

Date: 30. July 2025 at 14:03:14 EEST

To: " <mailto:[email-masked]> [email-masked]" <
<mailto:[email-masked]> [email-masked]>, "
<mailto:[email-masked]> [email-masked]" < <mailto:[email-masked]>
[email-masked]>

 Dear Ms Vseviov, Ms Jōks,

I am writing in connection with the European level discussions on minor
access to social media and their age verification. Specifically, the
Danish Presidency last week sent a proposed Jutland Declaration to all EU
Member States ahead of the informal Telecommunications Council in
Copenhagen in October where the intention is to release it. Below, please
find our thoughts both on the Declaration, and what an effective age
verification legislation could look like.

I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to discuss this topic in person
with you in more detail. I am available for an in person meeting in
Tallinn during the second half of August and first week of September or
online any time before that, where I would love to learn your thoughts
about this topic and see how Estonia could be more outspoken on the EU
stage on this topic.

Key points

*	We agree with Denmark’s position that effective and
privacy-preserving age verification provides the foundation for age
appropriate experience.

*	We also strongly agree that “age verification could be a part of a
broader set of requirements focusing on parental control software on
smartphones and other relevant devices.”

*	While we agree that regulation in respect of age appropriate
design is essential - this already exists for social media under the
Digital Services Act. We do not believe new duplicative measures - under a
Digital Fairness Act would be helpful. Indeed the opposite.

More detail

It’s right that there’s further action at the EU level to prevent
fragmentation across member states and we support Denmark’s push for EC
action. We have the following observation on the political declaration:

*	[+] A solution to establish the parent-child link is needed
alongside further action on age verification: we agree with the Danish
proposal that parental control is needed to complement age verification. A
parent child link is difficult to establish - especially if needed for
many apps. The easiest way to establish the parent child link is to
leverage the golden moment when parents buy the first phone for their kids
and set it up. While we think this would be ideally collected by OS or App
Stores, this could also be helpfully implemented into the eID / wallet
apps (as is currently planned by some Member States such as Greece.) This
would also be the most efficient way to implement a Digital Majority Age,
whereby parents could approve their younger teens’ access to digital
services, like they need to do in the offline world, for example for
certain school activities, (international) travel, medical treatments,
enrollment in driving school, or for opening a bank account.

*	[+/-] Level playing field / consistency across industry: While
it’s partly acknowledged in the draft declaration that that risks to teens
online extend beyond social media, it needs to be more clearly emphasized
that the scope of the declaration should be broad to include all apps
teens use, including services such as gaming, video-sharing and other
digital platforms.

*	[-] Parents should have the final say on teen app usage, not the
state: Denmark’s proposal would see a ban on social media (and potentially
other services) below a minimum age. Instead, the ultimate decision should
be given to parents. Parents know their teens best, and they should be the
ones who have final say over what online services they are comfortable
with their teens using. Regulation should empower this, underpinning their
ability to make decisions for their family.

*	[-] Consistent rules without duplication for age-appropriate
design: Age-appropriate design and addictive design practices are already
covered by existing regulations, and it has recently been clarified in the
new Art. 28 DSA guidelines that regulated services like social media will
be required to address these risks. New legislation in the DFA would be
duplicative and unnecessary and would lead to an overlap and legal
uncertainty.

*	[-] Recognise the benefits teens get from being online: The
underlying narrative of the initial draft is partially tendentious and
overly negative, neglecting the positive aspects and value social media
and other online services offers to teenagers. The many positive effects
of social media and its value for teenagers should be acknowledged and
taken into account in the broader discussion.

We believe EU-wide Digital Age of Majority would be an effective solution
to the industry-wide challenge of ensuring teens have safe,
age-appropriate experiences online, if it is grounded in three key
principles:

Guiding principles for an EU-Wide Digital Majority Age

1.	Parental Approval of App Downloads by Younger Teens

Parents want to be involved in their teen’s online lives: Recent
<https://pro-assets.morningconsult.com/wp-uploads/2024/11/Euro-Parents-Stu
dy-on-Teen-App-Downloads_Memo.pdf> polling by Morning Consult found that
three-quarters of EU parents support parental approval for app downloads
for teens under 16. We agree that parents know their teens best, and they
should be the ones who have final say over what online services they are
comfortable with their teens using. Regulation should empower this,
underpinning their ability to make decisions for their family. There’s
growing support for this approach in and
<https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5277672-gop-lawmakers-to-introduce-
bill-requiring-app-stores-to-verify-users-ages/> outside of Europe.

2.	Consistency Across Industry
Any new provisions should apply broadly across the digital services teens
use — not just to social media platforms. Teens engage with a variety of
apps - at least 40 apps per week on average, including gaming, streaming,
messaging, and browsing. Focusing only on social media would miss the full
picture and could push teens toward unregulated and less safe digital
spaces.

3.	Address Age Verification
For a Digital Majority Age to work, robust age verification mechanisms are
critical. We have and continue to be supportive of solutions that reduce
the burden on parents: They should be easy-to-use, privacy-preserving and
work consistently across industry. That's why we have been supportive
<https://about.fb.com/news/2024/11/europe-can-make-parenting-in-a-digital-
world-easier/>
<https://about.fb.com/news/2024/11/europe-can-make-parenting-in-a-digital-
world-easier/>  of an EU-wide solution at the app store or operating
system level. However, what is most important is that this is a
centralized mechanism that offers a consistent experience to parents
across the EU.

To be clear, our support for a EU-wide Digital Majority Age is not an
endorsement of government mandated social media bans. Bans take away
parental authority, focus narrowly on one type of online service among the
nearly two million apps available to teens, and overlook how teens use
social media to connect with the world around them, grow and learn. Bans
also fail to acknowledge the differences that exist between different
services and varying levels of protections they offer.

Safety and Support for Teens

Meta takes youth safety incredibly seriously and, among numerous other
measures to protect and empower Teens and their parents, we recently
launched Teen Accounts to better support parents, and bring them peace of
mind that their teens can use social media to connect with their friends
and explore their interests with the right protections in place.

Teen Accounts have built-in protections which limit who can contact a teen
and the content they see. They set time reminders prompting teens to take
breaks from our apps and turn off notifications at night to support a good
night’s sleep. Millions of teens in Europe are automatically placed into
Teen Accounts, and teens under 16 need a parent’s permission to change any
of these settings to be less strict. And with supervision parents can set
individual time limits, e.g. no Instagram during dinner or school hours.

Teens will continue to use digital services to socialize, be creative and
explore who they are. Parents want to feel confident that their teens can
use social media safely, and deserve tools to guide those experiences, not
bans that bypass their input. A thoughtful, EU-wide Digital Majority Age —
grounded in parental approval, strong age verification, and consistency
across industry — can help achieve that.

Kind regards,

Vitnija Saldava

Regional Public Policy Lead

 <http://www.meta.com/> Meta