Minister of Digital Governance Dimitris Papastergiou attended the EU Council of Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Ministers of the European Union, which took place in Brussels on Friday.
Papastergiou stressed in his speech that in addition to the measures to be taken by each state, EU member states must jointly take initiatives to force major digital platforms and social media to stop targeting user addiction. Papastergiou cited as an example at European level the Digital Services Act (DSA), which includes specific provisions for the protection of minors and explicitly addresses the problem of addictive design.
As he said "soon in Greece we will present the National Strategy for the protection of minors from algorithmic addiction. Social media and digital platforms must come to the table and show that they will take tangible, measurable actions to prioritise safety over profit. The design of their apps and services should be age-appropriate," he said, referring to the implementation of age verification and age assurance tools, age verification.
Referring to other Council issues, Papastergiou stressed the need to adjust the objectives of the "Digital Decade" and targeted funding due to the rapid development of technologies such as 6G, Artificial Intelligence and cloud computing. He also referred to the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) and the usefulness of extending upgrade and retraining programmes for ICT professionals. He made particular reference to the role of ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity) in improving common situational awareness and management of large-scale cyber incidents and crises in the EU, as well as the European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC). In the margins of the Council, the Minister had an introductory meeting with the new Executive Vice President of the European Commission Henna Virkkunen. He also had bilateral contacts with ministers.