Yesterday, the think tank the IPPR released YouGov polling showing that a majority of Britons, 83 per cent, believe there should be some form of restriction on social media for young people – either a blanket ban on social media for under-16s (44 per cent) or that social media companies should be forced to remove content and features that are inappropriate for children (39 per cent).
Starmer appears to have gone for a mixture of these two options, announcing in a press conference in Downing Street this morning that there will be a ‘full ban’ on social media for under-16s as well as ‘world-leading action’ on gaming services and platforms. Platforms which are intended to host material, like Snapchat and Instagram, will be banned, while messaging services like WhatsApp will not.
Interestingly the restrictions are not being limited to just under-16s. Under-18s will be banned from using romantic chatbots, meaning – somewhat farcically – there will be teenagers who can legally have sex but not send crude messages to a computer. The government will also set out plans for ‘digital curfews’ for under-18s in July to prevent infinite scrolling. So a 17-year-old could have his bedtime set by Keir Starmer later this year.
