"Children and social media: let’s pass the bipartisan bill," says Marianna Madia

Rome. The call to arms (in the sense of looting and the ‘let’s smash everything’ mentality seen in the streets of Milan on 17 October) was also sent via chat to children under the age of 14, and the images were shared on TikTok. The alarm over the violence and the involvement of 11-, 12- and 13-year-olds at the scene of the devastation urgently raises, once again, the issue of restricting minors’ access to digital platforms. In Italy, a draft bill already exists: it was introduced in 2024 and signed by Marianna Madia, a former Democratic Party MP now with Italia Viva, and Lavinia Mennuni, a senator from Fratelli d’Italia, but it has been stalled in Parliament for some time. In an interview with La Repubblica two days ago, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni referred to it. Is this a turning point? “It is not merely a matter of setting an age limit,” says Madia, especially as the original text set the limit at 15 and discussions are now centring on lowering it to 14, “but of framing the issue within the broader context of a childhood that risks being marred by social media addiction. In other words, we are starting from a worrying trend affecting the physical and psychological well-being of children who, as Professor Stefano Vicari – head of the Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit at the Bambin Gesù Hospital – has pointed out, are now often given a mobile phone as a First Communion present, and who immediately find a world of ‘baby influencers’ online.” This early use, says Madia, “which predates Covid – dating back to when the cost of smartphones plummeted – is harmful to concentration and learning for any young person, who is exposed to the power of an algorithm that exploits their tastes, vulnerabilities and habits”, but, in addition to this concern, says Madia, which applies to any child, “alarm is growing over the minority of children and young people lured – perhaps via Roblox or TikTok – into a world where self-styled peers propose unimaginable content, self-harm, manipulation and blackmail, in an escalating cycle of violence aimed at further violence. ‘Social media can become instruments of war,’ wrote Paolo Giordano. There you have it: it is time to defend ourselves, and defence against this kind of danger must be understood in the broadest sense of the term.” Madia quotes Ursula von der Leyen: “It is not so much a question of understanding when to grant young people access to social media, but when to allow social media to enter young people’s lives. The European Commission has put forward its proposal with the European Kids’ Act. But we also need the commitment of Member States to firmly address the issue of accountability. In other words, we must move towards establishing a European framework of values; and we need a broad alliance comprising states, the media, schools, families and young people, supported in developing the right awareness. Young people cannot manage this on their own, nor can families.” Some say: a law is not enough. “I repeat: we need everything, and nothing is enough.” Where do we stand? “Our proposal has stalled in Parliament, even though we had cleared all the technical hurdles. As the Italian Parliament, we approached the European Commission and amended the text in line with European guidelines. The proposal had been signed by all parliamentary groups, and by September 2025, we were ready. Then news leaked out that, during a Council of Ministers meeting, the government had suddenly put the brakes on, calling for caution and hinting at a search for a compromise between the various positions. We’re still at a standstill, awaiting ministerial opinions. I also spoke to Meloni about this, following the encyclical in which the Pope warned against this drift, and the Prime Minister replied: ‘I’m not opposed to it; go ahead.’ A few months later, I asked Minister Urso for an update again during Question Time. Nothing. Today Meloni says: ‘Let Parliament go ahead.’ But we need the opinions. Well, I hope this isn’t a shell game. It would be important: just think of the impact of the Sirchia law on smoking – it had a broader and unexpected positive effect, to the point that today almost no one smokes in your face in a flat.”

Marianna Rizzini