It’s time to treat social media like tobacco
From our UK edition
There is growing momentum behind a ban on social media for the under-16s. Last week, the Prime Minister hinted that legislation could be fast-tracked. This week, Kemi Badenoch, at a press conference with the parents of children whose deaths have been connected to social media, called for a digital ‘counter-revolution’ to protect kids. If Britain did ban social media for under-16s, it would be following in the footsteps of Australia, which enacted a ban in December. Denmark, France and Spain are signalling similar intentions. The logic behind these bans is simple: social media’s harms have become too severe for children to navigate safely, and tech companies have repeatedly shown that they cannot be trusted to police themselves.
