Social media ban ‘on the table’ as government to examine impact on children

Teh secretary Peter Kyle has warned of a ban on social media for under 16s ‘on the table’ if platforms do not take theirs duty of care seriously as the government launchp a review of the influence of social media on young people’s well-being.

As the global panic surrounding children using social media continues – with claims of links to depression, self-harm, eating disorders and access to inappropriate content – ​​pressure is mounting on international governments to act.

The Australian government has promised to ban social media for under-16s, and former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak weighed in on a smartphone ban for under-16s in the final months of his premiership.

Under a Labor government, there appears to be no less appetite to limit children’s access to the depths of social media doom, with the newly announced investigation aiming to provide further evidence to guide Ofcom’s policing of digital spaces.

The research project, which was launched on Wednesday, follows up on a 2019 review from the UK’s Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) investigating the link between children’s mental health and screen time.

The study found that there was an association between mental health problems in children and excessive use of equipment, but it was unable to prove a causal relationship.

Further research by Professor Jonathan Haidt argued that there was a profound shift in the mental health of young people between 2010 and 2015, when the mass adoption of smartphones took place.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said his department had fired “the starting gun on research which will help build the evidence base we need to keep children safe online”.

The Online Safety Act was passed last year to give Ofcom more power to punish social media companies and digital content providers who host “harmful” material, particularly when it is accessible to children.

Listen: UKTN’s exclusive interview with Almudena Lara, policy director at Ofcom

Since the law was passed, the watchdog has been gathering views to determine how best to enforce the law’s requirements.

To further guide Ofcom’s approach, the Technology Secretary has given it a set of priorities for enforcement.

Kyle’s priorities cover five areas: embedding security in the design of platforms; ensuring transparency and accountability between platforms; keeping regulation “agile” as new harms—such as those from AI—emerge; creating an “inclusive” digital world that is “resilient” to damage and incorporating new technologies into Ofcom’s approach.

“Keeping children safe online is a priority for this Government, so today I will be the first Secretary of State to exercise the power to set out my strategic priorities,” added Kyle.

“From making social media safe from the start to increasing platform transparency, these priorities will allow us to monitor progress, gather evidence, innovate and act where laws fall short.”

There has been a growing chorus to regulate social media companies more stringently since a 2021 report by the Wall Street Journal uncovered internal documents from Meta assertedly shows it was aware of the toll his Instagram platform had on teenage girls.

Meta has the site introduced greater parental controls on its platforms and recently partnered with the British tech company Yoti to tighten its age verification systems.

In July, the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok was fined almost £2m by Ofcom for providing inaccurate parental control data, in signs the watchdog is prepared to take action againt social media companies where necessary.

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