Britain is considering banning the use of social networks for children and teenagers

The British government is considering a variety of new measures to protect minors online, according to a statement published on its behalf tonight (between Monday and Tuesday). It is written that one of the measures being considered is a ban on children “under a certain age” from using social networks – similar to the move made by Australia about a month ago. Also, in the UK they are considering stricter guidelines for the use of mobile phones in schools.

The British government announced that it will examine evidence and proposals from around the world that pertain to the issue, and among other things, the effectiveness of banning the use of social networks for children will be examined. Also, in the UK, they are looking into whether, if such a ban is introduced – how it will work in the best way.

The government’s statement also states that the ministers will visit Australia, which, as mentioned, became the first country to ban the use of social networks for children under the age of 16 – to learn from its approach.

The British did not specify a specific age limit for banning the use of the networks, but added that they would check whether the current minimum age for using digital platforms is too low and if it should be changed.

The kingdom’s planned steps come as governments around the world grapple with the growing risks of exposing minors to social media, and examine the impact of screen time on their development and mental health. The artificial intelligence content that has been gaining momentum lately has exacerbated the concerns about the subject.

Just yesterday the Prime Minister of Great Britain Keir Starmer said that “more needs to be done to protect children on social networks”. Starmer made his comments following the global scandal of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok – which created sexual images without consent.

“We need to do more to protect children, so we are looking at a variety of options,” Starmer clarified yesterday, essentially hinting at the measures the government is considering. “There are no options that are not on the table.”

The UK government has already introduced plans to completely ban the production and distribution of artificial intelligence-based sexual images, to prevent children from being able to take, share or view nude images on their devices – it said in a statement tonight. Also, Britain added to tighten age checks on the Internet, and according to the government, this reduced visits to pornography sites by a third.

The UK government also announced that it is also considering removing or limiting functionality that could drive addictive or compulsive use of networks such as infinite scrolling. In addition, only recently has Britain tightened its policy on the subject

“These laws were never intended to be the end point – and we know parents still have serious concerns,” said Liz Kendall, the UK’s Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary. “Therefore – I am ready to take another action.”

As you may recall, a little over a month ago, Australia legislated to block access to social networks for those under the age of 16 – thus becoming the first country in the world to do so. The new law that has attracted a lot of attention around the globe is an extensive step on the part of the Australian government to protect children from the possible harmful effects of social platforms.

The law, which was passed a year ago but entered into force as mentioned about a month ago, requires the technology companies that operate the well-known platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and others – to locate and remove the accounts of Australian users under the age of 16. If the companies do not take reasonable steps to remove users of the relevant age – they may be subject to fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars (about 33 million dollars American).