Bye bye Starmer

[GG.]

The point around politics is also a relevant one - someone was interviewed about where under 16s will get political information from and the response was BBC, ITV and print media...

Clearly removing the avenue for politicians to communicate directly will be positive from the PoV of taming extremist output but also hugely negative in that everything will get channelled through the lens of mainstream media. Given how hostile that is to parties on the centre right such as the conservatives (and you could argue left as well - though Polanski is hardly castigated in the same way as he would be if he were that far to the right of centre instead of the left), you can bet they would take that into account if they ever get back in power and if its Farage who gets to pull any strings it will be repealed immediately.

On that basis I do expect that it won't live longer than this not long for this world labour government.

[Swervin_Mervin]

I was thinking about that - i.e. if the audience gets taken away they'll need to reform. Ultimately I think that only will happen if it becomes a much more global thing. If you have just the UK and Australia's kids affected I think the likelihood is they'll shrug their shoulders.

It's not going to be just us and Aus though. Norway and Sweden are mulling bans right now, and Denmark is considering or proposing to implement limits I think. The list is fairly long https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/15/socia ... ries-list/

ETA - from that article:

Austria
Canada
Denmark
France
Greece
Indonesia
Malaysia
Poland
Spain
Slovenia
Turkey

[Rich B]

Ban it all and then remove companies from the blacklist if they demonstrate enough control and limitations are implemented would be the safest method I’d say.

My daughter is 16 and was talking about this earlier this week; her recent experience was tik tok showing her unedited videos of the bungee rope death, the rock climber falling into the volcano and a mother holding her dead baby that had been caught in a cross fire somewhere in South America - non of which were searched for and the end result is unknown until you’ve watched it. Horrible videos that I’d rather she not see (and she didn’t want to watch them either!) and certainly suggest that leaving it as is isn’t the correct choice. I’m grateful to have a daughter that talks to me and doesn’t just absorb this sort of info and internalise it.

This is one of the main things - i bet every one of us has seen at least one of those clips (or some very similar) without searching for it - why do we want kids to see them?

The social media companies have had the opportunity to do better, but they’ve got worse.

[dinny_g]

We shouldn't just take the easy way out though because it's hard.

I absolutely refuse to believe the social media companies can't do significantly better - they just don't because a. It costs money and b. no-ones really making them.

Instagram Algorithms are almost supernatural in the way they can generate content I'm interested in based on various interactions and, in many cases, things I've said out loud while my phone is nearby.

Filtering out scenes of violence, injury and death is not impossible based on Date of Birth or preference statements etc.

and now, with this decision, they'll never have to try because "Well, kids don't watch our platform, do they"

[Rich B]

We shouldn't just take the easy way out though because it's hard.

I absolutely refuse to believe the social media companies can't do significantly better - they just don't because a. It costs money and b. no-ones really making them.

Instagram Algorithms are almost supernatural in the way they can generate content I'm interested in based on various interactions and, in many cases, things I've said out loud while my phone is nearby.

Filtering out scenes of violence, injury and death is not impossible.

and now, with this decision, they'll never have to try because "Well, kids don't watch our platform, do they"

Child safety is pretty far down their lists of priorities - do you not remember Musk joking about the request for Grok to remove the “make your own child porn” feature when asked?

[dinny_g]

And, with this and every similar national decision, it's even further down the list.

[Rich B]

And, with this and every similar national decision, it's even further down the list.

I think the opposite - as i said before. The best way to get their sites on a safe list is to prove they are safe.

[dinny_g]

I can see your point...

You're banned... Now clean yourself up and we might lift the ban

but then again,

Clean yourself up... or else you'll be banned

would achieve the same goal but not throw the baby out with the bath water

[Rich B]

I can see your point...

You're banned... Now clean yourself up and we might lift the ban

but then again,

Clean yourself up... or else you'll be banned

would achieve the same goal but not throw the baby out with the bath water

I’m not sure i see many babies in this bath water - just lots of very dirty bath water.

[GG.]

I'm even OK with that approach - the ban is coming in in 3 months and you have until then to comply + once it is in force we will lift if you comply with the stated conditions. That is how regulators normally work (comply or sanction) but I haven't seen any mention of that yet, just that it is going to be banned come what may.

[Rich B]

I'm even OK with that approach - the ban is coming in in 3 months and you have until then to comply + once it is in force we will lift if you comply with the stated conditions. That is how regulators normally work (comply or sanction) but I haven't seen any mention of that yet, just that it is going to be banned come what may.

What are the benefits of social media for under 16s though? We’ve run this experiment for the last 15 years or so and now we’re at the stage where 9/10 parents and 2/3 of kids are requesting a total ban.


and a GG edit - does anyone on here wish that they had social media when they were kids?

[DeskJockey]

I'm even OK with that approach - the ban is coming in in 3 months and you have until then to comply + once it is in force we will lift if you comply with the stated conditions. That is how regulators normally work (comply or sanction) but I haven't seen any mention of that yet, just that it is going to be banned come what may.

What are the benefits of social media for under 16s though? We’ve run this experiment for the last 15 years or so and now we’re at the stage where 9/10 parents and 2/3 of kids are requesting a total ban.


and a GG edit - does anyone on here wish that they had social media when they were kids?

I'm with you on this. Only my eldest has a phone and he's not allowed on any social media. He has WhatsApp, but I'm not happy about it as there are no parental controls to block access to Communities.

He's generally very sensible, but I can also see the amount of stuff his classmates share in their various groups and there are plenty of them that have accounts or access to all the various platforms.

Total ban, and when they're old enough a gradual curated intro. Perhaps even teach "media consumption" in school?

As a separate note, I'd like to see regulation of parental controls so that they offer a base set of functions, and can crosslink stuff like screen time limits, filtering, etc.

[V8Granite]

You as a parent can limit him to whatever you want though, why do you need the government to do it for you ?

Dave!

[Rich B]

You as a parent can limit him to whatever you want though, why do you need the government to do it for you ?

Dave!

Because as a society we set all sorts of rules and limits for what is acceptable based on risk - Driving, drinking, smoking, school attendance, sexual consent, etc… Once upon a time all those were without rules too, the world changes.

[V8Granite]

Sounds like over reach as they don't like the truth being told on platforms they don't control.

Whatever the views, it will be interesting to see what happens when it comes in. Maybe kids will embrace it and impress us all or maybe it'll be things just being more hidden from everyone.

Different generations, different issues.

Dave!

[dinny_g]

Because as a society we set all sorts of rules and limits for what is acceptable based on risk - Driving, drinking, smoking, school attendance, sexual consent, etc… Once upon a time all those were without rules too, the world changes.

I don't think it's quite the same though - 80% of 90% of 14 and 15 year olds weren't drinking, driving and smoking cigarettes when those bans came into force. You can't teach a 14 year old how to drink, un supervised, safely or how to smoke without causing health issues.

[Jobbo]

and a GG edit - does anyone on here wish that they had social media when they were kids?

Since this is pretty much predicated on having a phone, I'd have absolutely loved gaming anywhere on my phone as a kid. Social media? That's for sociable people.

[Rich B]

Because as a society we set all sorts of rules and limits for what is acceptable based on risk - Driving, drinking, smoking, school attendance, sexual consent, etc… Once upon a time all those were without rules too, the world changes.

I don't think it's quite the same though - 80% of 90% of 14 and 15 year olds weren't drinking, driving and smoking cigarettes when those bans came into force. You can't teach a 14 year old how to drink, un supervised, safely or how to smoke without causing health issues.

why would i want to do either of those things? They don’t have any real benefit and (at best) are a distraction to what kids should be concentrating on and (at worst) carry huge health risks…

sounds familiar.

[Rich B]

and a GG edit - does anyone on here wish that they had social media when they were kids?

Since this is pretty much predicated on having a phone, I'd have absolutely loved gaming anywhere on my phone as a kid. Social media? That's for sociable people.

Didnt you have a gameboy or a game gear?

[Jobbo]

and a GG edit - does anyone on here wish that they had social media when they were kids?

Since this is pretty much predicated on having a phone, I'd have absolutely loved gaming anywhere on my phone as a kid. Social media? That's for sociable people.

Didnt you have a gameboy or a game gear?

Game Boy came out when I was in the 6th form and I didn't know anyone with one until probably 1991, so no. No idea about the Game Gear; I wasn't really aware of it. I had a ZX Spectrum and sold that in 1991 without replacing it. Occasionally played on friends' Megadrives and PS1 until I got a PS1 in late 1998.