site.btaBulgaria Discusses Social Media Access Restrictions, Legislative Changes over Juvenile Offences

Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said Friday that restricting access to social media and legislative changes are among the measures being discussed in response to antisocial behaviour by minors and juveniles.

He said the issue is being discussed jointly with the Ministry of Justice and several initiatives are currently underway. One involves adopting a new bill on antisocial behaviour by minors and juveniles.

"We are discussing opening up the Penal Code in two directions," Demerdzhiev said. One is introducing qualified offences in certain situations for crimes committed by juveniles, carrying higher penalties because "we see that the public danger is greater." The other is to consider reducing penalties for juveniles, he added.

An initiative is also underway to adopt legislation that would restrict access to social media up to a certain age, the Interior Minister said. According to him, studies show that up to a certain age, the harm caused by such access significantly outweighs the benefits.

"Children need to develop, be educated and grow stronger in every possible way so that they can operate in this extremely dangerous space in a way that creates no threats either to themselves or to those around them," Demerdzhiev said.

Asked whether the authorities would be able to mobilize public support and, above all, parental responsibility, the Interior Minister said that such public support already exists. "Society needs these issues to be resolved and we have support," he said.

"I hope Bulgarian parents will also realize their responsibility, because we realize the responsibility of the state and want to do very quickly what has not been done in previous years. If Bulgarian parents approach the issue in the same way, very soon we will have a completely different situation regarding our children. This is very important for us as a society," Demerdzhiev said.

He added that work is also proceeding in parallel on the issue of drug use.

"We need the state and parents to join forces and solve these problems, because neither the state can do it alone, nor, even less so, can parents," the Interior Minister said.

Demerdzhiev also commented on the upcoming presidential election, noting that the government has considerable experience in conducting elections. “We know the process well enough and I am absolutely convinced that, as far as preparations for the election are concerned, there will be no problems,” he said.