UK police chiefs call for ban on social media for under-16s
UK police chiefs call for ban on social media for under-16s
Four senior officers say more controls needed, amid claims platforms are ‘fuelling and enabling’ crime
It's technically impossible, so a pretty pointless discussion.
And it's dangerous too. Even if they legislated them off the major platforms, there's a million other ways to communicate online. Hundreds of DMs, talkers, games, live chats, streams, even IRC still exists. And pushing them into the darker corners makes it far more likely for them to be exposed to coercive and controlling types. Extremism, child abuse, bullying, suicide encouragement and so on.
Or even worse, they might come to lemmy!
Yeah this is gonna work as well as "you must be over 13 to use this site"
They can require ID verification of all users, as is done in some states in the US to access pornography sites.
And that is a gross overreach
Lmao maybe they should wait and see how Australian ban later this year turns out to be because it's looking like an absolute clown show rn.
It's basically unenforceable so I presume not a whole lot will change
Telling 15 year-olds what to do famously always works.
exactly
By that logic we shouldn't ban anything for teenagers. But we do: smoking, gambling, alcohol, etc.
social media bans for teenagers is never about safety and always about blocking access to queer support systems and stifling dissent.
I call for a ban on police chiefs
Kids are growing up, testing limits and learning, That is what kids do!
I think that a ban won't fix this, but instead ban anonymous use. If you have to use your real name, most behave much nicer. You become accountable, and that is a good thing for everyone to learn.
Also perhaps a minimum age of say 13 could be a good idea - you need to reach a certain age before you are able to foresee consequences and understand how your actions effect others.
cringe
Get off the Fediverse Zuckerberg. It's as dangerous for mental health as cigarettes are for physical health.
Whether that's true is irrelevant. This isn't something the government should be getting involved in, outside of prosecuting parents for neglecting their kids.
I don't let my kids use social media because they aren't ready for it. If they are ready for it, but my government says they can't, I'm going to use technical means (i.e. VPN, having them use my account, etc) to subvert the law. It should be my choice if my kids can access something, not the government's.
If the government wants to tackle this, they should be working with parents on the issue. Maybe sponsor a FOSS content blocker or work with social media orgs to create a concept of custodial accounts, and have some way for that to work w/ the FOSS content blocker. But don't unilaterally ban something because you think it's harmful.
If I want to smoke, that should 100% be my right, provided I'm not bothering other people. If my kids smoke, that should be 100% on me for being a negligent parent and allowing them to do something harmful (assuming I should know about it). The government shouldn't be making parenting decisions for me, that's my responsibility.
How soon before other countries also follow suit ...
I thought they already did this in Australia
The bill has been passed, but doesn't come into effect until next year.
There have been a lot of bills around this general idea. In my state in the US, for example, we passed a law but I don't know what enforcement looks like.
I'm against it in all its forms. Parents should be the ones responsible here, not governments.