UK to consider Australia-style ban on social media for children

UK ministers volition sojourn Australia to stitchery accusation connected the first-ever societal media prohibition for under-16s implemented past month.

The UK authorities has launched a consultation connected implementing an Australian-style societal media ban for children successful the UK, arsenic good arsenic different measures to amended support minors online.

The authorities said connected Monday it would analyse evidence from astir the world connected a wide scope of suggested proposals, including looking astatine ‌whether a societal media prohibition for minors would beryllium effective, and if 1 ‌was introduced, however champion to ‌make it work.

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UK ministers volition ⁠visit Australia, which past period became the archetypal state successful the satellite to prohibition societal media for young radical ‌under 16 years old, hoping to larn firsthand from the Australian approach, the UK authorities said successful a ‍statement.

“The consultation volition look astatine options including raising the integer property of consent, implementing telephone curfews to debar excessive use, and restricting perchance addictive plan features specified arsenic ‘streaks’ and ‘infinite scrolling’,” the authorities said.

The UK’s announcement comes arsenic governments and regulators worldwide grapple with the accelerated detonation of AI-generated content, which was highlighted this period by an planetary outcry implicit reports of Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot generating non-consensual intersexual images, including of children.

The UK has already acceptable retired plans for an outright prohibition connected artificial quality nudification tools, portion moving to halt children being capable ‌to take, stock oregon presumption nude images connected their devices, ⁠it said successful Monday’s statement.

“We are determined to guarantee exertion enriches children’s lives, not harms them – and to springiness each kid the puerility they deserve,” UK Secretary of State for Technology Liz Kendall said.

The UK’s announcement did not notation a peculiar property bounds for societal media use, but the connection said it was exploring a prohibition “for children nether a definite age”, successful summation to different measures, specified arsenic amended property checks and looking into whether the existent integer property of consent of 13 years was excessively low.

The person of the absorption Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has already said her enactment would present a societal media prohibition for under-16s if it were successful power, the UK’s PA Media quality bureau reports.

Badenoch, PA reports, said the planned consultation by the Labour-led authorities of Prime Minister Keir Starmer amounted to much hold from his leadership, aft earlier accusing him of lacking the “backbone” to enforce a societal media ban.

“The premier curate is trying to transcript an announcement that the Conservatives made a week ago, and inactive not getting it right,” Badenoch said.

“This is yet much dither and hold from Starmer and a Labour Party that person wholly tally retired of ideas.”