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Proposed bans on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat for children under 15 could push young users toward far more dangerous, unregulated alternatives, experts caution.<\/p>\n
Platforms like Gab, Parler, and 4chan \u2013 which operate with virtually no content moderation \u2013 champion unrestricted free speech and could easily absorb displaced young users. Unlike mainstream platforms, these sites fall outside the EU\u2019s Digital Services Act, which only covers platforms exceeding 45 million monthly users.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf something becomes trendy, young people will be the first to find it,\u201d said Yannis Theocharis, professor of Digital Governance at the Technical University of Munich. He warns that these spaces breed dangerous \u201cecho chambers,\u201d where extremist and far-right views go unchallenged.<\/p>\n
Parler was notably used to coordinate the 2021 US Capitol attack. Theocharis concludes: \u201cThe more countries ban social media for under-15s, the more others will exploit that to build new platforms serving exactly that purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n