The Head of State has launched an initiative to protect minors on the Web. Twitter is regularly targeted by associations for the dissemination of pornographic content.
“Will the bird protect our children?”. This November 10, Emmanuel Macron publicly challenged the new boss of Twitter after having launched a “laboratory for the protection of children online”, with the aim of working on avenues for the protection of minors on the Web. A message to which Elon Musk finally responded on November 11 with a simple “absolutely”.
Allowed pornography
The exchange between the head of state and the leader of the American company, which refers to the bird used as the logo by the platform, is not trivial. Twitter is regularly targeted by child protection associations because of its specificity compared to other platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or TikTok: pornographic content is authorized there.
While users sharing adult-only photos and videos should theoretically set their post to not appear without a warning message, no proactive checks are performed by the company.
At the end of August, several French child protection associations sent a request to Arcom (ex-CSA) to put Twitter on notice to verify the age of users before displaying pornographic content.
The takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk could also have effects on the moderation of hateful, shocking or cyberbullying content that could affect the youngest. The businessman presents himself as a supporter of maximum freedom of expression, while conceding that he is forced to respect the laws. A reminder in this sense was recently made by Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market, assuring that “the bird will fly according to our rules”.