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https://x.com/politlcsuk/status/2066624559122469145

UK's social media ban for under-16s is set to be enforced at device-level, with Apple and Google forced to verify the age of all users

This is how it should be done. Verify once and done.

Yes, and then don’t ban social media per se, but ban algorithms, with strict liability on any platforms that allow them.

Not sure what ban "algorithms" means there.

All software runs algorithms.

It’s about differentiating between simply providing stories in time order and using algorithms which cause radicalisation spirals.

My proposal is not to ban them - just that if you want something beyond time order, you are legally a publisher and responsible for all the content.

https://x.com/politlcsuk/status/2066624559122469145

UK's social media ban for under-16s is set to be enforced at device-level, with Apple and Google forced to verify the age of all users

This is how it should be done. Verify once and done.

So if I want to watch something on YouTube, I can no longer do so without being logged in?

And which privacy busting method are they going to use to verify my age? And how will they know it is still me when the log in is used?

And how are they going to enforce anything at device level on my Linux boxes (or, for that matter, a Windows VM which is not linked to any MS account)?


I think once people work out that this affects everyone's access, not just children, the reception won't be quite so enthusiastic.


I guess Proton VPN will be the only winners. I could do with one of their email accounts, anyway.

This.

1000x this.



Julia Hartley-Brewer
@JuliaHB1
I say this as a parent who is genuinely in two minds on a social media ban because the risks to our kids are clear but the solutions aren't.

Starmer's announcement is clearly a knee jerk attempt to do something popular as his authority crumbles. That's a dangerous background for making new laws.

https://x.com/JuliaHB1/status/2066420103818653774

Indeed.

He is not doing this because he thinks it is the right thing to do, he is doing something, anything quick and easy he can do that he can point to as a "legacy".

Whether its a good idea, thought through, principled or anything else is very much a tertiary concern.

Maybe? This hasn’t all come out of nowhere. It is an issue the government has been looking at for a while. Maybe Starmer has rushed it a bit because he wants some good news coverage, but we’ve been talking here about the UK possibly following the Australian model for months.

Norway and Spain have followed Australia with their own bans, and Ireland are talking about using their EU Presidency to make a decision on an EU-wide ban.

So this is definitely an idea that is out there and gaining momentum, independent of the impending defenestration of the British Prime Minister.

I'd rather ban the radicalisation algorithms then impose age restrictions, for multiple reasons previously discussed by many on PB.com, but Starmer is following a tide on this, and likely would have done the same even if his leadership weren't being questioned.

The Left have one major trump card on this topic.

They won't be bought out.

We all know that if Musk offered Reform or The Tories £50m they would shred the legislation within weeks of getting in to power.
.

Yeah, Tony Blair was a straight kind of guy who would never change legislation based on financial donations.