Social media: when the temptation to ban takes precedence over evidence
As the European Union moves toward widespread bans and age verification on social media, the question is not whether these practices pose problems, but whether the available evidence justifies such a uniform and restrictive response. At this stage, this is not the case.
The desire to ban minors from social media, now explicitly discussed in Brussels, gives the debate on the dangers of these platforms a new level of seriousness. When such a restrictive measure is being considered, the minimum requirement is to examine the facts rigorously and to clearly distinguish between political concerné, moral urgency, and scientific evidence. However, when it comes to the intrinsic danger of social media for young people, the available data is much weaker than European institutional discourse suggests.
« Methodological problems »
Both the European Commission and the European Parliament repeatedly rely on the same figures and studies to support the idea of a systemic danger. At the top of this corpus is the 2019…
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