With a sharp intervention from the floor of the Plenary Session of the European Parliament, New Democracy MEP Eleonora Meleti, sent a strong message regarding the need to protect minors from the dangers and challenges of social media.
During the discussion, Eleonora Meleti focused on the phenomenon of child influencers, describing it as vulgar. As she pointed out, at a time when society is fighting to eliminate child labor in factories, on the streets, and at traffic lights, a new phenomenon of child exploitation is taking hold on social media, often with the consent or even the encouragement of adults.
Even when children are not directly compensated for the content they produce, they are exposed to inappropriate role models, they learn to measure their worth through their digital reach, and they are gradually stripped of their childlike innocence,the MEP emphasized.
Eleonora Meleti reiterated the need to take substantive measures to protect minors in the digital space, so that children can grow up and develop free from pressure, commercialization and premature exposure to the public sphere.
