Virtual insanity

How very typically spineless of Keir Starmer and the current Labour government. Confronted with the problem of unregulated awfulness on social media, they've pointedly refused to grasp the nettle, preferring to introduce a blanket ban on certain sites for under 16s rather than going beyond strongly worded letters/statements and actually forcing the platforms' operators to take meaningful action or face serious consequences.

And to compound matters, the decision was announced on (among other channels) X - a site that they refuse to leave despite Elon Musk turning it into an especially toxic cesspit of inflammatory far-right propaganda and deepfake porn.

As someone with a teenage son, I'm naturally concerned about what he might be consuming, and there's certainly an element of parental responsibility involved. But there should also be significant political pressure on the providers to take their responsibilities seriously. Self-regulation and mild rebukes from Ofcom simply aren't good enough.

We should also note that, while social media can without doubt be harmful, it can also be an enormous help, enabling troubled teens to find their tribe and thereby a measure of self-acceptance. Banning kids from accessing YouTube cuts them off from what is an invaluable search engine and source of knowledge, while TikTok has become a much-loved outlet for creative talent.

Of course, the ban can only be enforced by demanding that users submit biometric and personal data for verification purposes. While I'm not joining the conspiracy theorists in claiming that this is all merely a stealthy means of fast-tracking the introduction of digital ID, it does dovetail nicely - plus there are serious concerns over the shady corporations that will have access to the data.

If the government want to direct a policy at users rather than platforms, they could start by recognising that some aspects of social media are damaging for all, not just kids. People of all ages are being radicalised online. One step would be to actually acknowledge the value of media literacy - by ensuring that media studies is made compulsory, for instance, rather than routinely rubbished.