Half a year after Australia banned social media for under 16s (link to thread here), Keir Starmer has announced that social media will now be banned for under 16s in the UK. The ban is set to come into place by spring 2027. The ban won't affected encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp, though. On top of the social media ban for under 16s, all people under the age of 18 will be banned from talking to AI "romantic companion" chatbots, and all under 18s will have online overnight curfews and measures to stop infinite scrolling.

Terrible decisions full of pitfalls imo.

do we count as a social media site ?

The community note 🥹

this is just bad lol

It's one of those policies that looks good on paper to people but falls apart under any kind of scrutiny or enforcement

The obvious thing would be regulating what platforms are actually allowed to do, but that means taking on the tech oligarchs directly rather than restricting children and calling it a win. Meanwhile hourglass ankles can continue using his platform to amplify far-right extremism and incite violence across the country, with the government still posting their official communications on it. Heroic stuff x

47 minutes ago, danG said:

do we count as a social media site ?

In the eyes of the government id say yes

I would say it's an music forum please unless I've missed something. I've never seen Buzzjack as an social media platform.

Message boards/forums are within the social media umbrella, no?

Prior to me turning 16, I would say I had spent a lot of my time on forums. More so than Facebook/Twitter.

Surely we're not mainstream enough to be under consideration anyway.

Plus, how often do we see any under 18s on here nowadays? Hardly ever I wager.

It is really interesting to see the discourse surrounding this online. I have seen a fair few comments in support of the move from parents of children, and then much more disdain towards it from people that are not parents.

As a teacher of children aged 11 and younger, many of whom spend 99% of their free-time online, and the sheer number of issues social media causes for them, I can see both sides of the argument.

Growing up without social media it is easy to see the benefits of having a youth without it. But then most children and teenagers do not know any different so the shift will be difficult for them.

I hope there are concrete plans to this rollout that support the transition of young people away from social media into other avenues. Imagine if the government invested money in extra-curricular activities for young people instead, or further funding for after school clubs etc... I think there has to be give AND take, not just take.

It's aimed at platforms with an algorithm (for now), otherwise Discord would surely be included

5 minutes ago, HausofMayhem said:

It is really interesting to see the discourse surrounding this online. I have seen a fair few comments in support of the move from parents of children, and then much more disdain towards it from people that are not parents.

As a teacher of children aged 11 and younger, many of whom spend 99% of their free-time online, and the sheer number of issues social media causes for them, I can see both sides of the argument.

Growing up without social media it is easy to see the benefits of having a youth without it. But then most children and teenagers do not know any different so the shift will be difficult for them.

I hope there are concrete plans to this rollout that support the transition of young people away from social media into other avenues. Imagine if the government invested money in extra-curricular activities for young people instead, or further funding for after school clubs etc... I think there has to be give AND take, not just take.

I think we all know how the concrete plans plays out, unfortunately. There'll be a lot of "we didn't have social media when we were kids" and not a lot of funds being allocated into communities

That's kind of the issue with the nostalgia framing. Growing up without social media was a genuine experience but it existed alongside youth clubs, affordable extra-curricular activities, a functioning high street, somewhere to actually go, etc. You're right that there has to be give and take, but I will be shocked Pikachu face if there is any give. They refuse to actually regulate these platforms and will happily collect as much data as possible, while patting themselves on the back for protecting children

I do agree with this but i think some kids can easily find their way round the ban.

I didn't grow up with social media, but had online forums, gaming, MSN messenger. I'm pretty sure I got Facebook around 16.

I've not read enough about it nor am I close enough to understand whether it's a good or bad thing. Ultimately, the cynic tells me it's a way to appease big tech with algorithims to tweek their content for U16s. I suppose if enough markets make a radical step like this then ultimately they will be forced to make changes, especially if the EU decides to implement something similar in the near future.

Yeah, when I was a child there were other avenues available to me (even if I didn't take them).

What other avenues are available to kids today?

Don't adults only ever complain about kids knocking about skate parks or whatever? If they don't have many places they can go, what do you expect?

I originally joined twitter when I was 11, which feels way too young in hindsight, but it was exclusively a chronological feed of people you actively followed back in the day. I think I mainly used it to talk rubbish with school friends and to keep up with some celebrities I liked. There was an actual end to your feed so I'd reach that and then get on with the rest of my day. The switch to algorithmic feeds across social media has completely transformed that experience into a way more addictive one, with a never ending stream of content pushed out from people you don't actually follow. As aforementioned, some really concerning stuff is amplified on there. I agree this is an issue and wanting to tackle it is a good thing but I don't feel confident that these new measures will address the root of the problem effectively enough.

One thing in common with a lot of the platforms included in the ban is that while they ostensibly retain the functionality for people to interact with those close to them, whether that is real-life friends or random people they've met online, in actual fact most of children's experience on these platforms, and indeed most adults, has now become a torrent of high engagement social media algorithms almost entirely to do with selling you something from a company or an influencer. This applies to everything from TikTok to Facebook, Instagram, X, Reddit and Youtube et al. Whatsapp and other messaging apps that do not do this are not in scope.

I think taking steps to combat society's reliance on the algorithm sites is quite a good thing. Regardless of whether VPNs will find their way round it, just let that happen, if you broadly reduce young impressionable people having a dependence on the poison that is staring at social media selling you biased narratives about the world, so much the better. Especially since it's pretty much impossible to find communities on these sites now the way you could in the early internet, the stuff the platform wants to sell its users is far more valuable than nonsense like making social connections.

Obviously where this falls down is going to be a) as mentioned, where else do teenagers go while remaining on a positive life path and b) the braindead or sinister, take your pick, Online Safety Act approach to this which likely will force adults to prove they're an adult by insecure ID and face-scanning approaches rather than like, account ages and unidentifiable identity tokens.

I think working with teenagers day to day, I do feel more supportive of this than most in here, I see in action every day that social media can be extremely harmful to crucial general development and mental health. When you are below 16, you haven't yet fully developed social and critical thinking skills and these can be exploited heavily by the algorithm and make you particularly vulnerable to misinformation and being led down the wrong paths, as well as just a general disengagement with the world around you. I've seen the worst of it in action and it genuinely can ruin family lives.

Having said that, I do agree that it is just a policy that's designed to look good and generate headlines while not actually challenging the big tech firms to actually regulate their platforms, putting it in action effectively in a way that makes a positive difference for children is another thing entirely and one I'm not convinced this government has the ability to deliver.

“Adults can still access social media through age checks like facial recognition, digital IDs, passports and credit cards”

And this is what it’s really all about. Disgusting