Starmer's announcement layers an Australia-style platform ban for under-16s with extra curbs on supposedly safer services, such as blocking stranger chats and livestreams, after a consultation drew over 116,000 responses focused on mental health and screen time.
fuck you
We are banning social media access for under 16s.
These days kids must find their feet in a world where technology intrudes into every area of their life.
I just can’t let that go on anymore. So we’re giving children their childhoods back.
Age-assurance tools required for enforcement still lack defined standards, leaving room for data breaches and expanded surveillance that experts already flag as rushed and poorly modeled.
No prior impact study examined how the rules might cut off community access for vulnerable teens, so the displacement risk to unregulated corners of the internet remains an explicit unknown.
Many users condemned the UK social media ban for under-16s as authoritarian overreach that invades privacy and can be easily skirted, while a minority praised it for safeguarding children.
Not a free country.
We are banning social media access for under 16s.
These days kids must find their feet in a world where technology intrudes into every area of their life.
I just can’t let that go on anymore. So we’re giving children their childhoods back.
I have kids who are close to being teens and I support this move by the UK, and wish more countries would follow.
Social media, IAP games, and many others are full of dark and addictive patterns - and private companies have zero incentive to be considerate for kids’ development
We are banning social media access for under 16s.
These days kids must find their feet in a world where technology intrudes into every area of their life.
I just can’t let that go on anymore. So we’re giving children their childhoods back.
My kids don’t have smartphones - and it’s in good part thanks going to a school where parents voted to ban them, so practically no kid has it (no social anxiety)
I still see how terrible these predatory IAP games are, and social media is even worse in creating FOMO and anxiety
I have kids who are close to being teens and I support this move by the UK, and wish more countries would follow.
Social media, IAP games, and many others are full of dark and addictive patterns - and private companies have zero incentive to be considerate for kids’ development
Jonathan Haidt (@JonHaidt) is getting exactly what he wants.
Kids banned from YouTube. Phones banned in schools. Private schools taxed into bankruptcy.
The only information kids will get is state-funded, state-approved, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.
🚨 NEW: Under-16s in the UK will be banned from the following 10 social media apps
TikTok YouTube Snapchat Instagram X Reddit Facebook Twitch Kick Threads
hey what's the solution for misaligned governments
We are banning social media access for under 16s.
These days kids must find their feet in a world where technology intrudes into every area of their life.
I just can’t let that go on anymore. So we’re giving children their childhoods back.
@christiandean_ @JonHaidt And up is down and the clock strikes 13. The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. George Orwell, 1984
@christiandean_ @JonHaidt Cutting the heads off tall poppies, to 'narrow the attainment gap' preventing millions of children accessing dozens of REAL teachers in YouTube study & exam preparation videos & lives. To be replaced by 1 govt controlled AI app.
@christiandean_ @JonHaidt Yep he blew it. Fool.
@christiandean_ @JonHaidt Last I heard of Haidt he was the leader of the anti-establishment, anti-fragile intellectuals. Then just one day I see him pushing this stuff.
What happened?
@christiandean_ @JonHaidt Jon wants private schools taxed into bankruptcy? Can you say more about this claim?
@naval Social media makes a whole society addicted to it, dumb and depressed. Better late than never to take them down or regulate them. And there are still dumb people being mad about it.
@naval Not a free country if you’re hoping to exploit children. Correct.
Speaking for myself, I'd be more than happy with a solution that puts the decision in the parents' hands, like eg movie ratings, displayed on all movies.
Can my kids sneak and watch 16-rated horror movie? Yes but age limit clearly marked on every service
@GergelyOrosz I'm not convinced this is the right approach; it feels like "fixing" road safety on the way to school by forcing kids to be driven there.
Wouldn't it be better to take the Dutch approach and make roads (or social media) safer for everyone to use?
@Mrwhosetheboss Back then we had far better quality videos and reliable teachers and people's Now its so difficult and most people just watch crap in here ... Specially kids , who are biggest target audience of so many categories of you tube creators
@remade2matter @skylermzx @naval where would u go tho?
@Mrwhosetheboss Isn't this enough for a child to learn something meaningful from it?
@christiandean_ @JonHaidt Jonathan Haidt did not want that, but like many before him, he failed to realize that his well-meaning idea was not limited in its scope.
@christiandean_ @defossardf @JonHaidt He risks becoming the Paul Ehrlich of our era.
@naval Unfortunately not.
If I could afford to, I would now leave.
