AEPD and Atresmedia Foundation launch the ‘No to digital free bar’ campaign to alert about the risks of early mobile access

The Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) and the Atresmedia Foundation join forces to warn about the dangers of minors accessing inappropriate content via mobile phones and to promote support in the use of technology in children and adolescents.  

To this end, both entities launch the ‘No to the digital free bar’ campaign with the aim of recommending families to delay the delivery of the mobile phone to their children and to accompany them in their interaction with the digital world, thus preventing them from accessing content that is inappropriate and detrimental to its development, such as pornographic or violent content, among others.

In this context, the CEO of Atresmedia and employer of the Atresmedia Foundation, Javier Bardají, and the Director of the AEPD, Mar España, stress the importance of adult support in the use of technology, as well as the risks that social media can pose to the mental health of children and young people, agreeing on the need to equip minors with the skills needed to meet these digital challenges and recalling that a safe digital environment is the responsibility of all.

“All families, regardless of socio-economic or cultural factors, have lived or are going to live what gives a mobile device to their children and there is a need to address the relationship between technology, children, hyperconnection and being exposed to inappropriate content. It is difficult for a child to self-regulate, because he or she does not have sufficient tools to manage it, just as he would not be able to manage the situations reflected in this campaign. For this reason, we consider it essential to delay the delivery of the mobile phone and, when it comes to doing so, to have dealt with the issue in the family, since dialogue and support’, said Mar España, Director of the Spanish Data Protection Agency.

“Big tech companies have originally designed optimised social networks to capture us for as long as possible, at the expense of our mental health and well-being, and even more severe, at the expense of the mental health of our children and young people. It is imperative to point out and denounce the responsibility of big tech companies as the main broadcasters of fake news, polarisation, violence, pornography, gambling, etc. In the Atresmedia Group we have a clear commitment to this cause, we will always be part of the solution and not the problem. We are a trusted medium” said Javier Bardají, CEO of the Atresmedia Group and employer of the Atresmedia Foundation.

Both bodies, referring to the promotion of a safe digital environment that are committed to the protection of children and adolescents, point out that, although young people have great ability to handle applications, search for content and navigation, they are not always aware of the risks involved in these actions. Family supervision and guidance is essential, especially when at an early age they are given their own mobile phone.

‘Not to the digital free bar’ reinforces the idea that allowing children early and unrestricted access to screens is to open the door to risks that may have an impact on their well-being. Thus, the spot visualises this problem through impacting images: a child only in an American bar and a girl in a betting room, accompanied by a clear and direct message: “If you will not let your child only be in a place like this..., it does not leave you alone in the digital world. It delays the delivery of the mobile phone to your children and adapt to your use.”

According to data shared by Arturo Béjar, former Head of Meta Protection, in the Special ‘Salvados’ of theSixth, ‘Social media, the terror factory’, 1 out of 8 children are sexually harassed in Instagram every 7 days; 1 in 5 feel worse with yourself after using the platform, and 1 out of 10 are bullying inside the platform every week. This data supports the importance of supervised and safe use of technology during childhood and adolescence, a central focus of the Atresmedia Foundation and AEPD initiative.

The campaign, which has been broadcast on Thursday under hashtag #Noalabarralibredigital, will be broadcast on all television channels of the Atresmedia Group: 3th antenna, Nova, Neox, Mega and Atreseries, and on their media, as well as on the AEPD website and social media and the Atresmedia Foundation’s website and social media.

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