Under-16s will be banned from using social media, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced.
Starmer says social media is making children unhappy, making it easier for bullies to abuse children, and is “designed to be addictive”. A ban would give children more time, security, and more freedom to grow up - as well as more opportunities, he adds.
“That is all any parent wants. They want to know that Britain will be better for their children, that they will get a fair chance,” the PM says in a speech in Downing Street.
Starmer adds that the government is “not prepared to compromise” on the safety and happiness of children - and that includes in the regulation and enforcement of this ban. He says the government has listened to and learned from countries like Australia, where a similar ban has already been introduced.
I mean not entirely. Kids who are tech savvy or dedicated or even just kids who are fine with “borrowing” their parents’ laptops and using social media on that. Etc.
But I do think that for a lot of kids it’ll put up enough of a barrier to reduce their usage and access to it immensely.
The biggest barrier to Internet access is simply having a device with an Internet connection. Everything after that is a question of configuration.
What I’d consider the bigger fallout from this decision is the need to check the identity of people over 16. This is a backdoor method of imposing Internet ID on the entire population.