this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2026
503 points (99.0% liked)

Technology

85515 readers
4205 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
 

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
[–] lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Lemmy and the whole Fediverse is social media. What do you think social media is?

[–] derpgon@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Lemmy is addicting naturally, not being fed slop via an algorithm.

[–] lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

That's the problem with this panic. Everybody is using a different definition of social media. You and the other guy don't hate social media, you hate Meta, X, and TikTok. And the government hates that too but also defines the Fediverse and forums in general, plus video games and anywhere else you might talk to another human being as social media as well.

So if you're on a social media site like Lemmy or Piefed and you're complaining about how evil and addictive social media is, the government is going to read that and think "My god! This poor person is in trouble! They're screaming for my help! I must pass a law to ban Lemmy and liberate Derpgon from they're horrible addiction to the Fediverse! That's what Derpgon wants!"

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Its a webforum, not a social media.

Social media is places that revolve around shit in your real life no one cares about. Facebook, Instagram,Tiktok,Etc.

[–] lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Reddit and the Fediverse are listed in the Wikipedia article about social media as social media:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

Social media is media where people can socialize.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

First of all, Don't blatantly lie about the very thing you are linking to. It is not listed as social media.

They simply say some people (mostly idiots) refer to it as social media.

So thats already points on you for intentionally and willfully misrepresenting information.

Also the entire article is bunk cause it calls Mozilla and Minecraft social media. Which is stupid. Because Mozilla is a fucking company that makes a browser, and Minecraft is a goddamn game.

Second of all, You can wrongly refer to something as social media all you want.

I can write Fuck You on a brick and throw it through your window, and just because I ~~Call it Macaroni~~ refer to it as social media, doesnt magically make it social media.

[–] lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

First of all, Don’t blatantly lie about the very thing you are linking to. It is not listed as social media.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media#Decentralization_and_open_standards

"While the dominant social media platforms are not interoperable, open source protocols such as ActivityPub have been adopted by platforms such as Mastodon, GNU social, Diaspora, and Friendica. They operate as a loose federation of mostly volunteer-operated servers, called the Fediverse."

The problem isn't me wrongly referring to Lemmy and Reddit and other forums as social media. The problem is pretty much the entire world doing it. So until that gets fixed, it's probably best not to call for the destruction of social media.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Just cause lots of people call something X, doesnt mean its X.

Otherwise Trump would be a literal god. And web forums would actually be social media.

[–] lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

My point is that if everyone is grabbing their pitchforks and planning to kill all the Lilliputians in town and they all wrongly think you're a Lilliputian, you want to address that first before joining the mob because they're coming for you too.