Dr. Leo Pekkala:

This is a very complicated issue as I am sure the Senator is well aware. The general thinking in Finland is that at the moment, it seems almost impossible to get reliable age verification systems in place. Before we have such things, it will be very difficult to restrict access.

Our solution at the moment is that we try to invest in education as much as possible and educating the children themselves because rather young children can understand these topics and most children do not actually want to see things they do not like. We invest in educating them but we also invest in educating the parents and try to have the discussion. It is hard work and one can never succeed 100%.

I do not really think that strict restrictions about not giving mobile devices to children of a specific age would work because there is always a way to find access to the content. The only solution would be educating, but it is complex and it takes time, and one can never have a full 100% result.

Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet in this case either, but the platforms could do much more if they would reveal their algorithms openly to researchers and to governments and they would invest more on these issues. I believe there is more work to be done.