Kids off social media, Macron says

Politico

2 days ago

TECH MAZE
French President Emmanuel Macron is gearing up to ban kids from social media, but that may not be so easy, our colleagues in Paris report.
Why it matters: The proposed ban, which would impact children under 15, comes amid high-profile youth violence cases, including the fatal stabbing of a high school teaching assistant this week that prompted Macron to call for a hastened social media ban across France and the European Union. Macron has argued that age checks — particularly for websites that sell knives and show explicit material — could help mitigate the problem.
The obstacles: The EU doesn't want a social media ban 'because this is the prerogative of our member states,' European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters this week. Macron said that he will adopt a ban in France if the EU doesn't.
That could prompt legal wrangling. Macron's proposed age checks could breach privacy and free expression liberties because they could lead to people 'constantly prov[ing] their age, or even their identity,' warned the French Data Protection Authority, the country's independent data protection regulator.
The tech industry is also squabbling over whether operating systems or social media apps and websites should be responsible for enforcing the social media ban.
Almost half of children under 10 have social media accounts in Denmark even though laws prohibit this, the country's digital minister, Caroline Stage Olsen, said last week. They can also use virtual private networks, which allow internet users to spoof locations, to bypass geographic restrictions on certain websites.
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A federal judge in Massachusetts will hear a challenge to the Trump administration's directive to slash research grants for projects about health equity, transgender health and vaccine skepticism on Monday.
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Scientists at California's public universities are worried about how declining state and federal funding will impact the state's tobacco researchers.
Tobacco researchers in California, whose studies are largely funded by state tobacco tax revenue and National Institutes of Health dollars, are being pinched from both sides: California's smoking rates are dwindling, which means less tax revenue for researchers, and NIH money long-regarded as steady is now precarious due to President Donald Trump's belt-tightening.
Researchers say diminished funding could seriously impair their hiring capabilities and infrastructure maintenance, and ultimately stymie critical public health research.
Key context: In the first months of the Trump administration, NIH has clawed back funds for scientific research and upkeep of the buildings, staff and tools that support the work. It's targeted research that doesn't square with Trump's agenda, such as projects advancing diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as specific universities the administration accuses of antisemitism.
NIH has also promised to cut funding for universities' indirect costs, which finance infrastructure and logistics at research institutes, but court orders have put that directive on pause.
What's next: Scientists across California public universities are anticipating increased competition for a shrinking pool of state funds for their labs.
California has pledged to cushion the loss of NIH funding by creating a state-level replica of the federal agency. But it's unclear whether the state can mimic the funding scale of the federal government.
'We can all see this coming, and we're scared shitless,' said a tobacco researcher at a California state university who was granted anonymity to avoid retribution.
The federal government's cuts — particularly the cuts to indirect costs — would leave a large hole for California to fill.
The state's largest public university system, the California State University, faces a budget deficit amid declining enrollment and increased costs that prompted the state to propose cuts of over $100 million earlier this year. The University of California, the state's other public college system, is facing similar financial constraints.
'There's just no room in the budget,' said Georg Matt, a tobacco researcher at San Diego State University, which is part of the CSU consortium. 'So for the CSU to do research, this research has to come from extramural support.'
Scientists tasked with submitting yearly progress reports for secured NIH funding are omitting 'red flag words' like 'structural racism' that could be construed as contributing to DEI research — which the Trump administration has pledged to eliminate — said Pam Ling, the director of UC San Francisco's Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.
'Without knowing whether or not that report is going to be accepted and whether the next year's funding is coming in, your work grinds to a halt because you're waiting for the assurance that you're going to be able to pay your people or conduct your experiments,' Ling said.