Social media ban for under 16s in the UK
What is your opinion of social media? Do you love it? Is it a necessary evil? What about when it comes to children using it?
Some countries are introducing legislation to ban children from using it. In this episode, I spoke about the UK’s plans to ban under 16s from social media.
The phrase blanket ban is useful here, and it means a ban that covers a whole group of people, rather than a more specific, targeted ban. Some people critcize the legislation because of this.
It may also mean that adults have to verify their identiy before using social media, which has been criticized for restricting freedom.
What do you think? Will this be successful in protecting children?
Jamie
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00:00:00 - Hello, this is Jamie and I'm back with you for another episode and it's Wednesday, the 17th of June.
00:00:06 - Today I spoke about this recent UK ban for under sixteens from using social media. There are some interesting outcomes and implications for this, so we'll discuss them and we'll go through the article, pick out some useful phrases.
00:00:25 - Yeah, let's head over to this news article. I'll see you over there.
00:00:28 - Hello, how are you? You doing all right? Thank you for joining me once more for Wake Up to English wherever you are, whatever time it is.
00:00:45 - And today I'm talking about a ban that is coming for the under sixteens related to using social media apps. This is in the UK, so apps include TikTok, YouTube and more.
00:01:00 - OK, I'm on a website called AP News and I'm going to start reading. OK, we're at the top of the article. There's a video, I think, with the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer making the announcement.
00:01:18 - OK, let's go down to the beginning. The top. Here we go.
00:01:18 - London. Britain will ban children aged under 16 from using a range of social media apps including Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube, to protect them from harmful content and excessive screen time, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday.
00:01:40 - Now I think it's true of many of us that we have excessive screen time, but does that mean that we should be banned from it? Of course that we're talking about children. I guess that would be the response to that.
00:01:53 - Let me continue with the ban, which is expected to take effect early next year, makes the UK part of a growing global movement to tighten online safety for children.
00:02:03 - Australia, Canada, Brazil and Indonesia have introduced legislation or announced age based restrictions or requirements for children's access to social media. France, Spain, Denmark, Thailand and South Korea are among others studying or developing similar approaches.
00:02:25 - So this is a trend, it's a part of a growing movement. Many countries are getting on the same page with this.
00:02:35 - Every parent can see it with their own eyes. Social media is making children unhappy, said Starmer, who has two teenage children. I've heard first hand from families crying out for change and will do right by them.
00:02:51 - I saw it on social media funnily enough, but it was the Prime Minister and he was wearing some kind of hoodie or like a more casual outfit and I guess it was his attempt to appear more down to earth and human. Frankly speaking, when politicians do that it makes me distrust them even more. It's best that they just stick to their suit and tie. At least I know what to expect with that anyway.
00:03:19 - So he's trying to use this angle for pushing this legislation through.
00:03:24 - The plan was met with mixed reaction, with some praising Starmer for taking action and others questioning the effectiveness of a blanket ban.
00:03:35 - YouTube and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, warned Monday that a blanket social media restriction could push kids into unregulated spaces.
00:03:46 - That could be a risk thinking about it, because if they're not on the platforms that are regulated, I don't know how many huge platforms there are which are unregulated, however.
00:04:00 - But yeah, there could be a risk of pushing them into areas that are less protected. But just to think about it from a basic parenting standpoint, you would think it's a good thing to restrict social media usage of children. However, is it the government's responsibility or is it the parents responsibility?
00:04:23 - You could point to other restrictions. We're talking about alcohol, tobacco usage, driving. I mean, there are many things that are restricted based on age, and that's always a big point of contention for people.
00:04:45 - Anyway, I wanted to point out this phrase here, blanket ban. Blanket ban is something that just like a blanket, it covers everything. So a ban is something that prevents or stops something from happening. Blanket ban is something that covers everything rather than targeting something specific.
00:05:04 - OK, it's at the beginning of the next paragraph as well. Blanket bans push kids out of curated, supervised beneficial experiences and towards anonymous, less safe services, a YouTube spokesperson said.
00:05:19 - Meta said a ban could drive teens to online alternatives without any parental controls. I do know that YouTube has a YouTube Kids which is quite heavily protected, so that seems like a good alternative to the usual YouTube.
00:05:38 - I'm not too sure about the other ones. I know that they do have an age limit, an age requirement rather, and I think if I'm not mistaken, it's supposed to be 13. Whether or not that's actually checked, protected carefully, I don't know.
00:05:52 - Starmer acknowledged the challenges and said some teens would try to find their way around a ban, but said I do believe we can enforce it.
00:05:59 - He added teenagers drink before they should, but we do not then say in which case let us abandon any attempt to stop them buying alcohol.
00:06:09 - There is some truth in this statement. We do know that children guess they are children. Teenagers end up drinking a little bit earlier than they legally should and most of the time this doesn't end up in huge catastrophe. Thankfully.
00:06:30 - The Prime Minister, who is under pressure to step down from members of his own party over what they see as poor leadership and could face a challenge from within his Labour Party in the coming days or weeks, said he is not prepared to compromise on the safety and happiness of our children.
00:06:46 - Now, I think this is a very clever strategy because it's very difficult to disagree with that statement, that sentiment that it's about the safety and happiness of our children. However, with a topic like this, there is often a pro and a con, an upside and a downside.
00:07:01 - So it's not always that people on opposite sides disagree with wanting to protect the safety and happiness of children, it's that they think a different path or a different method could ensure that. So it's a bit disingenuous to say that that's the reason why someone might disagree.
00:07:23 - Starmer says the UK will go further than Australia. The UK plans to follow the same model for a social media ban as Australia, which last year became the first country to bar under sixteens from holding social media accounts.
00:07:43 - Platforms that failed to take reasonable steps to exclude children younger than 16 could be punished with multi-million dollar fines.
00:07:50 - I wonder what kind of efforts the platforms will go to already. If we're talking about a different topic, alcohol, it's quite strict when you go to certain, especially big supermarkets.
00:08:02 - I've heard many stories of people being rejected because they don't have ID one, but two if they have children with them and they are themselves adults, they have been banned from buying because they might be supplying their own children with alcohol. So a lot of common sense has gone out of the window with something like alcohol.
00:08:24 - When it comes to social media, the ways to enforce it are a little different. They're usually not in person for a start, so I'm curious to see what methods they will use.
00:08:37 - I'm not sure if it will mention it later on in the article, but I believe the over sixteens might have to verify their identity or age. And I think this is the darker side of this if you like. It's a way of sneaking in a kind of digital ID. More and more privacy being taken away with the excuse of children's safety being used.
00:09:10 - OK, let me read a bit more. The UK said its ban will apply to platforms such as including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, but not YouTube Kids. Well there we are.
00:09:21 - YouTube Kids is already heavily protected or messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal. Starmer stressed that enforcement action will target tech companies, not children.
00:09:32 - He said the move was a big moment for our country, adding that he will go further than Australia's measures.
00:09:41 - And a couple of paragraphs down it says more details are expected next month.
00:09:51 - The article does go on and it mentions some scepticism about whether or not the ban will work and then there's some pushback from America. US opposes the move.
00:10:08 - Basically, American technology companies might have too much of a burden.
00:10:16 - The last paragraph in the story, it says, and this is from Starmer: I honestly think that across world leaders there has always been a recognition that leaders have to take steps to protect children, he said. I don't think that's controversial.
00:10:38 - Again, I'm not sure if he's pretending not to understand, but the controversial part is the privacy and the role that the government plays in protecting children.
00:10:52 - OK so this topic is a bit more serious than the usual ones I cover and has big consequences for children and adults parents in the UK and it seems like many other countries are following suit.
00:11:04 - I do know that the UK has a lot of problems with restrictions on free speech in general. There have been many arrests based on what people have said on social media, so it's not a good thing. Less and less freedom, even if it is for protecting children.
00:11:28 - OK, well that's about all from me on this topic. There's a lot more information here if you want to read about it.
00:11:35 - OK, I'll next be with you on Friday. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day. See you next time. Thank you. Take care. Bye bye.
