this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2026
320 points (98.8% liked)

Technology

85461 readers
4548 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
technopagan@lemmy.world
L4s@lemmy.world
L3s@hackingne.ws
320
UK: Under-16s to be banned from social media, Starmer announces (www.bbc.co.uk)
submitted 19 hours ago by Tarambor@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
134 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Under-16s will be banned from using social media, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced.

Starmer says social media is making children unhappy, making it easier for bullies to abuse children, and is "designed to be addictive". A ban would give children more time, security, and more freedom to grow up - as well as more opportunities, he adds.

"That is all any parent wants. They want to know that Britain will be better for their children, that they will get a fair chance," the PM says in a speech in Downing Street.

Starmer adds that the government is "not prepared to compromise" on the safety and happiness of children - and that includes in the regulation and enforcement of this ban. He says the government has listened to and learned from countries like Australia, where a similar ban has already been introduced.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] bumbling_bee@lemmy.ml 20 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

They learned from countries like Australia huh? Australian here, did they learn how much its not working ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ™„! None of my kids have anything other than YouTube, but my 9yo knew how to get around it. He doesn't because he just watches in a browser with ad blockers and we monitor it. My high schooler reports the many and varied ways kids just changed where they go online to continue their crap. Do I think under 16s should be on social media, no. But identity verification is not going to fix that.

[โ€“] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 hour ago

If parents dont care or approve of their kids using social media then the kids will keep doing it. Its still important that the top officials in government are warning adults that its not safe for children there, because some people dont know or won't trust anyone else.

The problem was thinking it was okay for kids to be on social media, and this fixes that. People on here keep saying the problem being fixed is how to prevent every child from getting on social media, but thats not what's happening.

This also allows us as a society to punish parents who break these laws or allow their children too. We have to be able to signal to each other in society when something is harmful, whether it affects autonomy or not.

[โ€“] Tryenjer@lemmy.world 13 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

This was never about protecting the children. That's just an excuse to further promote mass surveillance and to exempt companies from responsibility for the additive design of their products and services. It's easier and more rewarding to penalize the users.