Gabriel Attal wants to move from words to action. A few days before the announcement of an “interministerial plan on bullying” by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, the Minister of National Education is in Denmark to study the measures to combat school bullying put in place by the country Scandinavian. Among the avenues mentioned for this plan, the government wants in particular that the confiscation of the mobile phone of the child responsible for serious cyberbullying be systematic, indicated the new minister during his visit to Copenhagen.
“Pre-sentence” legal sanctions
Gabriel Attal says in particular that he wants sanctions affecting the perpetrators of serious cyberharassment to intervene earlier in legal proceedings. “It is important to identify measures that could be taken upstream, from the start of a procedure, to reduce the risks as much as possible,” he stressed.
“When there are situations of serious cyberharassment and legal proceedings are initiated, the children’s judge has the possibility of deciding on ‘pre-sentence’ sanctions, educational measures very early on,” declared the Minister of Education national. In this case, “it is important to be able to systematize the seizure of cell phones in these serious situations of cyberharassment.”
A “digital curfew”
He also highlighted the possibility of prohibiting access to social networks of minors involved. The government is therefore considering implementing a “digital curfew”, which would consist of preventing young people from using the Internet at home, for example from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., reports BFMTV. A decision that would be taken by a children’s judge, at the start of legal proceedings for harassment.
The bill for securing the digital space, currently being examined by the National Assembly, “provides for an additional penalty of six months or even a year of banning of networks which arrives at the end of the procedure”, he said. underlines.
The minister also indicated that he had recently met with digital platforms to control the “digital majority”, a measure passed by Parliament in June. The adopted text establishes an obligation for social networks to verify the age of users and to obtain “authorization from one of the holders of parental authority” for those under 15 years old. According to the ParisianGabriel Attal suggests using the EduConnect file, which allows you to connect to the National Education digital platform and is already used today to certify your age and receive the Culture Pass.