Resolution 2498
(2023)
| Provisional version
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 28 April 2023 (14th sitting) (see Doc. 15726, report
of the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media, rapporteur:
Ms Fiona O'Loughlin; and oral opinion of the Committee on Social
Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development, rapporteur: Ms Ruth
Jones). Text adopted by the Assembly on 28 April
2023 (14th sitting).
1. Through new
media, young Europeans are developing social relationships and expressing
their concerns, aspirations and expectations in a way that is quite
different from previous generations. The Covid-19 pandemic and measures
taken to combat its spread had a huge impact on their lives: they
suffered, probably more than adults, from social distancing and
lockdowns; at the same time, they show a greater readiness to turn
to the digital world and new media to communicate with close family,
friends and peers.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly considers it vital to ensure safe
social media use for young people and to promote youth participation
in social, economic and political life via the media.
3. Whether people use traditional media or non-mainstream digital
media, their habits and practices in accessing news and seeking
information are largely influenced by their age. Online and social
media platforms are the prime sources of information for young people.
There are two patterns of news consumption: on the one hand, and
more often than not, an accidental exposure to news, which is consulted
in a piecemeal fashion on digital platforms; on the other hand,
deliberate news consumption on social networking sites, with a degree of
interest and engagement that varies greatly from person to person.
4. With regard to the news, the major challenge is to ensure
that all sources – whether digital-born, non-mainstream news platforms
or traditional media – provide young people with high-quality news
reporting and encourage them to play an active and deliberate part
in civic and political life.
5. By design, technologies are likely to trigger addictive user
behaviour, especially among the young. For the latter, constant
connectivity and immediate responsiveness have become the norm,
leaving them vulnerable to problems such as digital stress, fear
of missing out and “technoference” – constant interruptions in interpersonal
interactions caused by technological, digital and mobile devices.
6. Children and young people face information overload on the
internet. They are exposed to a multitude of material and narratives
promoted on social networks by influencers, TikTokers, YouTubers
and video bloggers with sway over young audiences grappling with
a complex world. Such social network influencers are often disseminators
of misinformation, toxic advertising and harmful, or even unlawful,
content.
7. Some young people may also be drawn in by online incitement
to violence and radicalisation, although many are quick to speak
out against hate speech and discrimination. Abusive and harmful
content for young people also includes non-consensual pornography,
which must be tackled through regulation.
8. The challenge of a sustainable regulatory approach is to strike
a balance between ensuring minors’ safe social media use and digital
self-determination and, at the same time, protecting them from potentially
harmful behaviours and other dangers.
9. One major source of concern relates to digital identity and
online reputation, namely the need for safety measures and data
privacy protection for young people, who are not always aware of
the risks linked to digital technologies. In this respect, it is
crucial to take into account minors’ cognitive abilities and to
effectively uphold the right to have one’s personal data erased
(“right to be forgotten”).
10. Young people’s participatory and collaborative culture is
influenced by their internet, social network and digital technology
usage patterns. Young people’s degree of trust in the media affects
their interest and engagement.
11. Through new media, young people are networking, thinking and
acting together, building their own identity and shaping our societies.
Participatory media have formed a landscape that is conducive to participatory
politics in which young people do not just follow elite-driven information.
Media platforms create opportunities for young people to express
their views on today’s crucial issues like human rights, environmental protection,
sustainable development and peace. They have a legitimate desire
to be influential in making crucial choices.
12. However, there is a substantial disconnect between institutional
politics and the daily lives of certain groups, especially young
women and young people from minorities, which is reflected in their
perceptions of politicians. Some young people do not feel listened
to or represented in institutional politics and there is a “technological
disjunction” between traditional political media and other types
of information technology.
13. New approaches need to be found to make young people’s voices
more audible in traditional media too, to converse with them in
order to tap into their way of contributing to the social fabric,
to better protect those who may be more exposed and vulnerable to
harmful content online and to empower the many who are seeking to
build a better future.
14. In the digital environment, young people are the main drivers
behind both the dissemination and the production of information.
The digital ecosystem thus provides young people with the tools
and spaces to be both active and creative consumers and producers
of culture. Their data, attention, culture, labour and creativity,
however, are being commodified to generate profits that media operators
do not share equitably. Such participation in the digital economy
entails power relations: through “aspirational labour”, young people create
and produce content for free in the hope of a future career, thereby
forming a class of data workers who are subject to asymmetrical
relationships and even exploitation of their skills.
15. The Assembly therefore calls on member States to develop a
media ecosystem that ensures the provision of high-quality news
reporting and digital safety for young people and strengthens their
democratic engagement. In this respect, it is necessary to:
15.1 better protect the media’s editorial
independence and enhance the role and visibility of professional
journalists;
15.2 support public service media and independent and local
media outlets by providing them with adequate financial resources
so that they can encourage responsible news consumption and democratic engagement
among young people;
15.3 support the presence of news media on social networks
to disseminate news that takes into account the diversity and specific
needs of certain groups of young people, in particular those from minority
backgrounds, for example, young migrants;
15.4 fund and promote research on safety and well-being online;
15.5 provide financial support for fact-checking initiatives
to counteract mis- and disinformation;
15.6 promote (publicly and privately-run) media literacy programmes
aimed at countering the trend among young people for intermittent
“news snacking” and at strengthening young users’ digital and critical
thinking skills so that they are better equipped to tackle information
disorder and harmful content and to identify and challenge abusive
content and advertising practices on the internet;
15.7 strengthen the role of data protection and competition
authorities; in particular, ensure compliance with data protection
rules for young people under the age of 18 and enforce appropriate measures
to make corporate platforms comply with all the relevant requirements
in terms of surveillance and the protection of privacy;
15.8 consider a voluntary or compulsory digital identity system
and strengthen young people’s capacity to protect their own online
reputation;
15.9 align their national legislation with the standards set
by the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals
with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (ETS No. 180, “Convention
108”) and its modernised version (ETS No. 180, “Convention 108+”);
in particular, introduce strict penalties for major social media
platforms when they engage in unfair commercial practices and collect
and use data about minors for commercial purposes, including targeted
marketing and personalised advertising;
15.10 enhance the role of national media and advertising regulatory
authorities and ensure compliance with measures to protect users,
especially the most vulnerable, from online harassment and harmful content
on video-sharing platforms and social networks;
15.11 step up efforts to prevent and combat online harassment
by disseminating research and education on media ethics and by requiring
health-care professionals and educators working with children and
young adults to routinely screen for cyberbullying, while ensuring
that they receive specific training and are given time to analyse
the situation;
15.12 regulate pornography platforms in Europe and impose harsher
penalties on intermediary services that do not comply with the requirement
to remove non-consensual imagery, including revenge porn and fake
porn;
15.13 organise information and awareness-raising campaigns concerning
deepfakes, particularly as they are part of political disinformation,
frauds and revenge porn, and implement appropriate measures to counter
harmful deepfakes and to ensure their removal from digital platforms;
15.14 implement appropriate measures to ensure that advertisements
on video-sharing platforms comply with specific advertising requirements
around transparency, prohibited and restricted products and other
general advertising requirements; promote uniform approaches to
social media regulation on limiting or banning advertisements aimed
at children, including those for harmful foods.
16. The Assembly also calls on member States to promote the participation
of young people in social and economic life via the media, bearing
in mind that digital transformation may lead to structural inequalities
and reproduce existing ones, including through the invasion of privacy,
exploitation of free labour and surveillance. In this respect, it
is necessary to:
16.1 stimulate
youth civic development and political engagement by tackling incivility
in online political discourse and by adapting the way politicians
engage with young people;
16.2 develop metrics to measure online economic value created
by young people and fund research on the development of their economic
understanding;
16.3 adopt regulations to tackle the new forms of youth labour
exploitation that have emerged in digital economy ecosystems;
16.4 ensure that youth educational programmes raise awareness
of and teach digital financial literacy and promote young people’s
input into the changing digital economic landscape.
