The United Kingdom will ban access to social networks for those under 16 years old

LondonThe impunity of big tech companies has ended in the United Kingdom. Or at least that is what Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends, who this Monday made a 180-degree turn and announced the prohibition of access for minors under sixteen years of age to social networks. In addition, adolescents up to 18 years of age will also have their possibility of continuously browsing networks until late at night restricted, in what has been compared to a kind of curfew, in this case technological. The legislative reform also aims to go further with changes to video game and live streaming platforms, so that strangers cannot contact minors. Last week, Starmer already gave an "ultimatum to Google and Apple to activate mechanisms that prevent minors from making, sending, or receiving sexually explicit images from their mobile phones.

Starmer stated that networks "make children unhappy, facilitate harassment, can harm mental health, and are designed to be addictive." "It will be difficult to legislate, regulate, and enforce the ban, but it is worth pushing forward because I am not willing to compromise children's safety," he said. Starmer assured that despite the resistance that big tech companies may offer, the government will remain firm: "We have the capacity to act, and we will," he assured. Starmer has established a "clear correlation" between the use of smartphones and an almost epidemic in the mental health of young people and adolescents in the United Kingdom, "which intensified particularly during covid."

The responsibility for compliance with the new laws will fall on the big tech companies. The affected platforms will be Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X, but not WhatsApp and Signal. Services such as YouTube Kids, Lego Play, and Classroom Google will be exempt.

For now, however, from the speech that Starmer delivered from Downing Street, very few details can be known about how the ban will be implemented and, above all, how its compliance will be guaranteed. Regarding its entry into force, the "}premier" said that he trusts that by the spring of next year the legislative process will have been completed. The United Kingdom's rule thus joins the one that entered into force in Australia more than six months ago.

Australia, however, a pioneer in banning social networks for under-16s, has found that enforcing this ban is proving much more difficult than anticipated. Despite the measure coming into effect last December, young people claim they can bypass age checks in minutes, and data suggests that most adolescents remain active on the platforms.

According to recent surveys, 70% of parents state that their children still use social networks, even though millions of accounts have been deactivated by tech companies. Despite this, authorities acknowledge that a "substantial proportion" of minors continue to maintain or recreate profiles, and they assure that no fines have been imposed yet, while the potential non-compliance by major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube is being investigated.

Cultural shift

From Starmer's words, it is deduced that a generation of teenagers is practically considered lost, probably the older ones, already close to 16 years old. The "premier" admitted that some of these boys and girls "will find ways to circumvent the restrictions" but, in any case, he said he trusts that "a very significant reduction in the presence of minors on social networks" will occur. And he insisted that it is the "first step", since what may be most relevant is the "cultural change" that the ban will foster. "It will take time, but it will spread the idea that our children can grow up in a different way and have a better and more enriching childhood", without being addicted to social networks. In a way, the Labour government hopes that the restrictions imposed on social networks will have the same long-term effect as the fight against tobacco decades ago.

Some specialists assure that the new legislative measures should cover not only social networks, but also video games and artificial intelligence tools, as young people spend more and more time in these digital environments, and less time in forums like Facebook. Through a statement, YouTube's first reaction after the announcement was to say that "a ban of this type could push minors towards less safe services".

Keir Starmer's announcement takes place in a key week, in which a large part of the prime minister's political future is at stake. On Thursday, a by-election will be held in the district of Makerfield, in northwest England, and if the Labour candidate and current mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, wins, he has promised to challenge the party leadership to get the keys to Downing Street. From this point of view, legislation on social networks could become one of the most relevant legacies of a "premier who has not yet been in office for two years but who in recent weeks has lost all the credit he had achieved. Following the local and regional elections at the beginning of May, almost a hundred of his MPs asked him to resign.