UK open to social media ban for kids as government kicks off feasibility study | TechCrunch
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The U.K. government is not ruling out further beefing up of existing online safety rules by adding an Australian-style ban on social media for kids under

Summary

The UK government is considering a social media ban for under-16s, inspired by Australia, as part of efforts to enhance online safety under the Online Safety Act (OSA).

A feasibility study has been launched to assess the impact of social media and smartphones on children, with officials emphasizing the need for evidence-based decisions.

The OSA prioritizes child safety, tackling issues like intimate image abuse, harmful content, and disinformation.

Ofcom, the regulator, will enforce the law starting next spring, with potential fines for non-compliant tech companies.

  • ShadowRam@fedia.io
    10·
    2 days ago

    Not only the technical problem of blocking ‘anything’ on the internet…

    What the hell would be the threshold of ‘social media’?

    old bulletin boards or IRC chat could be considered ‘social media’…

    what goobers,…

    • gnomesaiyan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      I think the threshold might be media that is known to be bad influencers to the masses. If a corporation/company stamps social media logos on the bottom of their website or advertisement, it’s probably worth banning (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, etc). I mean, how many more Tide pod challenges do our children need? It’s a waste of time and we need to instead be showering our kids with positive messages, not feeding them brain rot.

  • Th4tGuyII@fedia.io
    8·
    2 days ago

    Oh boy, here we go again…

    Will the Government succeed in their age ban, or will they learn (once again) that they’re just not that effective.

    You tell kids, especially teens, that they can’t use social media, they’re gonna want to use it more - and they will bypass any restrictions you put in their way.

    Similar to what I said about Australia, it’s like how CoD is meant to be 18+ yet somehow still full of prepubescent squeakers who all apparently fucked your mother last night and have Dads who work for Xbox.

    It would be far better to engage parents/schools in educating kids on how to more responsibly use social media and to critically analyse information - or alternatively force social media companies to implement better safeguards for kids who do end up on there, rather than play an endless and desperate cat and mouse race against them.

    • Blastboom Strice@mander.xyzEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      Yeah, but what if you force people to give their ids to random social media for “age verification” or keep people disconnected from social media or force them to use vpns?

      Why try to actually minimize a problem when you can create a false solution that will bring other problems and possibly increase your power over people?

      /s

      It’s so annoying when they try to do such things… And they do such things almost constantly:/

      • Th4tGuyII@fedia.io
        3·
        2 days ago

        Exactly. Why do the hard job of actually safeguarding the kids when you can just use them as an excuse to grab onto more unnecessary powers?

        It’s like as though the Government is incapable of coming up with solutions to online problems that don’t involve immediately invading people’s privacy.

        I’d say next thing is they’ll be trying to ban encryption, but they’ve literally already started on that one.

  • Ogmios@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    22·
    2 days ago

    Such a crock of shit every time these idiots try to solve the problems with bandaids while refusing to ignore the harm done by facilitating always-on open connections with every hostile foreign actor in the world. Borders and militaries used to exist for a reason: Because previous generations were aware that not everyone in the world wanted to be nice to each other.