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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hello. So the government has finally announced that it is banning social media for under-16s, probably from next year. But what is the clip that's gone viral? No, not the video of Keir Starmer dressed suspiciously like Andy Burnham. No, not a tweet by Elon Musk saying this is another attack on freedom of speech by an authoritarian government in the UK.
It is a schoolgirl being interviewed by reporter Fiona Lambden in Lancashire.
What was your screen time over the weekend? Nine hours. Nine hours. So suddenly you're going to have a lot more time to fill. And what will you do? Stare at a wall.
Stare at a wall. OK. I think she might have been joking. But who knows? We will find out the details of what the government actually is planning when it comes to teenagers and social media, though, on this episode of Newscast. Newscast. Newscast.
Newscast from the BBC.
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Chapter 2: What is the government's announcement regarding social media for under-16s?
where apps are not available for teenagers after a certain time of day. And clearly the government have been inspired by Australia, where they introduced a ban on social media for teenagers a few months ago, and the entire world is watching to see how that's going. Although the government here say they're actually going even further than Australia.
So to help us understand what might be coming down the social media technology pipeline, we're joined by the BBC's technology editor here in the studio, Zoe Clyman. Hello. And she's reuniting across the airwaves with Henry Zeffman at Westminster. Hello, Henry.
Hello. Yes, Zoe and I were in Downing Street very early this morning. And I think when both of us are in the same place, it reflects that technology and politics are coinciding in a very big way right now.
And Henry, just in terms of the choreography, this was a thing that the government's done before, which is try to crash breakfast news on BBC One at the peak viewing time, ten past eight.
Yeah. And they've done it a handful of times. I mean, actually, the most recent example I can remember is Rachel Reeves, the chancellor. Essentially, all but announcing that she was going to put up income tax, which she then didn't do, which sparked all sorts of political fallout. But look, I mean, it's a natural communication strategy, isn't it?
Especially given that this is targeted as an announcement. not at kids, but at parents. And it's a time of day when lots of parents are engaging with the news and got the government big coverage. Though, of course, this is an announcement of such significance, they could have announced it at any time of day, probably in any format. And a lot of people would have stood up and paid attention.
And Zoe, we'll dig into the details. And there's quite a lot of details, although maybe not as much detail as we'd like. But do you want to just sort of frame what Keir Starmer was trying to achieve with all of this?
So he's gone for the under 16 social media ban, which I think everybody knew he was going to do. There's been an enormous pressure from campaigners, from bereaved parents, from parents in general, actually, who are very worried about what's going on with their children when they're online and whether they're safe enough.
And the government's been very clear for ages, hasn't it, that it's not a matter of, you know, what... Sorry, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. And I think, obviously, there's a little bit of broader politics at play that Henry can talk far more about, but it seems like the moment is now for Sir Keir Starmer to perhaps set this out as his legacy. So what are we seeing?
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Chapter 3: What are the potential implications of the social media ban for teenagers?
And I thought maybe this is a little insight into how the nation's 13 to 16 year olds are feeling right now.
We'll feel from spring next year and then the other things being phased in afterwards. Zoe, just in terms of the practicalities of how this will work, you suddenly realise the easy bit is saying this is what's going to be implemented. The much harder bit is actually working out then how it will happen.
Because isn't one of the logical conclusions of this that everyone, no matter what age you are, if you want to access TikTok or Snapchat or YouTube, you will have to prove your age to show that you're not under 16?
I think it's quite possible that we will see something like that. Certainly, the age verification has been criticised in Australia. And one of the reasons for that, I think, is that it's not essential. So it kicks in if something is flagged rather than kicking in for absolutely everybody. And I think that might be how some children have managed to hold on to their accounts.
So we will be probably seeing a tougher version of it.
Oh, so in Australia, it's not an automatic thing where you have to, I don't know, do a 3D scan of your face to get access to TikTok?
No. So my understanding is that it's not essential that some children haven't hit it or they've managed to get round it. I mean, there are always ways, as we know, around everything. I thought it was really interesting that the prime minister compared this to laws around drinking alcohol, which, of course, is for over 18s.
And he said, you know, we do know that people under 18 also drink, but we know that the law prevents it on lots of occasions. And that's why we do it. We haven't given up. on the drinking laws and so I think he is being realistic about it that it's not likely to completely solve this problem but it might help
And Henry, in terms of how these regulations are designed, it'll be interesting to see, do they go down the route of basically just putting a very strict duty on the providers of these services that they've got to stop under-16s being on them if they're covered by the ban, or they've got to stop under-18s using certain tools if that's what then gets restricted, or whether the government is very, very precise about what's going to go on here.
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Chapter 4: How does this ban compare to Australia's social media regulations?
So now they're going to have to find a way to do it. And it's going to have to be a better way than what they're doing in Australia. And I think from what I'm hearing, that's come as a bit of a surprise, certainly to some of them.
Well, because the argument for doing it at device level is that you would basically prove your age on your phone, and then that gives you access to the services as opposed to having to prove your age to every app that you want to
Exactly right. So the idea is, you know, if you are aged between 13 and 15 and you go on the app store, you won't even see the apps. They won't be there. They'll be blocked from you at device level. And of course, the other argument is, you know, if you if you remove children's access to these apps, well, where do they go instead? There are some smaller, less regulated platforms.
zero protection places out there, chat forums, gaming platforms, you know, that there is a concern that the tech companies say, well, you know, at least on these big ones, you know that we are under scrutiny and we are doing a lot. Whereas on these other ones, nobody's looking at them and nobody knows about them. Is that a bigger threat?
And will teenagers who have accounts on these apps now just have them switched off one day in spring next year?
Well, that's what happened in Australia, isn't it? They just hit a wall. But they did manage to get over that wall quite a few times.
Yes, and in terms of the Australian experience, I keep hearing, oh, the evidence is very mixed. And I'm not sure what the evidence on either side actually is, other than to say it's mixed.
Yeah, so I guess, well, in its favour, the eSafety Commission says that nearly 5 million children's accounts were disabled when the ban was introduced in December. That's a lot. Less good is the fact that 7 out of 10 children that had accounts then still seem to have at least some of them now.
7 out of 10?
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Chapter 5: What are the specific apps affected by the ban?
So you saw when it happened. It happened just in the last hours as President Trump was that cage fight was going underway, thrashing it out on the White House lawn. And then it was the next day in Iran. So Iran could say, well, we didn't do it on President Trump's birthday. I mean, that was part of the timing.
But there was also the fact that there was... Hezbollah had fired, we think it was drones. Israel retaliated in Beirut. There was a concern that this would... That would derail the progress. Then there was a flurry of negotiations with the Qatari mediators and the Iranians. Iran is said to have asked for something from President Trump not to retaliate.
Adam, there's always this kind of messiness in the final stages of a deal. But what we're seeing in this one is on another scale. And even now, as we speak, as we're recording now, two o'clock in the afternoon, there has been an announcement from Washington, announcement from Tehran, that they have reached an agreement.
Pakistan, one of the mediators, has also said there's an agreement on all fronts. But we're not sure what Israel is going to do in Lebanon. And we don't have all the details about what actually has been agreed.
Well, yeah, hence why when we were just watching our colleagues on the news channel on the TV here in the studio and on the caption, the words peace deal are surrounded by inverted commas.
It's a misnomer to call it a peace deal. It's about ending the war, ending the hot war. The hostilities remain. All of the toughest of issues are still to be negotiated. I know it doesn't sound good in a news headline, a memorandum of understanding, a framework for further negotiations. What will be the fate of Iran's nuclear deal? How will the Strait of Hormuz, how will that be controlled?
Is it really going to be controlled? A free flow, Iran doesn't see it in that way. What's going to happen? Ballistic missiles don't seem to be, from what we know, doesn't seem to be on the agenda. The US said they wanted it. Certainly those Iran's neighbors who've come under ballistic missiles, Israel wants those on. What about Iran's proxies and partners? So there's still a lot.
There's still a lot that could go wrong, but let us emphasize how important it is that there is. Call it a peace deal in inverted commas. Call it an end to the war.
I think there was a collective sigh of relief because people have been warning that, you know, energy experts, financial advisors, if it went through the summer, the global energy shock, the global shock in food prices, the hunger crisis would have been on an even deeper scale.
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Chapter 6: How do parents and campaigners feel about the social media restrictions?
Pihlajalinna. Ihmisen kokoista huolenpitoa.