The uncomfortable truth about banning under 16s from social media
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What are the arguments for banning social media for under 16s?
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Is there no government in the world that's looking at what the experts are recommending, which is reining in big tech rather than a ban, which actually puts the onus on no one?
Yeah, so there is, and it is a bunch of unelected people called the European Commission. Ironically. So the European Commission earlier this year came out with a couple of rulings that have really shaken the big tech companies. They're really worried about it. So one was TikTok. It essentially found on a preliminary basis, preliminary ruling that TikTok, that its algorithms addict kids and adults and the algorithms must be changed permanently. Hello and you're welcome to The Big Tech Show with me, Adrian Weckler.
How does Ireland's approach to social media regulation differ from the UK's?
Now, the UK says it's going to ban social media for under-16s and that means Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube, not WhatsApp, not Signal and not YouTube Kids. And there's a whole anomaly there which we can get into. But we're going to talk about this, about the idea of a social media ban for young teens. It's quite popular in Ireland. A lot of surveys show that parents in particular and in particular of young kids like the idea of a social media ban on under-16s. And Ireland, in fact, says that it's looking at a ban. Taoiseach Michael Martin, asked by reporters after the News of the UK ban broke, he said that Ireland would look at a ban, but that Ireland prefers to proceed in lockstep with the European Commission.
What Ireland is actually doing is is it hopes to use the digital wallet app, which, by the way, is coming at the end of this year. I'm not sure if you knew that or not. It's going to be something that will be on your phone, like your Android or the wallet on your iPhone that you pull Ticketmaster tickets and things like that on. And the idea is you're going to be able to put your driver's license and other state ID. And Ireland's idea is to link that with... social media use for age verification. Now, there's all sorts of issues with that. But JJ Clarke is here with me in studio. And JJ, there are a couple of things. What has struck me about this debate I'm probably in the minority here, but I'm very cognizant of the fact that most experts in this area, and I mean child protection experts, say that bans don't work and they won't work.
And I'm just going to quote to you from one or two of them. So Noleen Blackwell, who is the online safety coordinator of the Children's Rights Alliance, she said this week in response to the UK social ban, she commented that after several months of investigation and testimony on what is needed to be done on the regulation of online platforms and the improvement of safety online in the Oireachtas Committee, Not a single expert witness recommended a ban. Now, this is the online safety coordinator of the Children's Rights Alliance saying this. She added that there is not sufficient evidence that a ban is going to work. There's another organization called Cyber Safe Kids. And Alex Cooney, who's the CEO of that organization, said simply designating a shortlist of mainstream platforms, however well intentioned, creates a false sense of security for parents and will not be sufficient to make the online world safer for children.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the arguments for banning social media for under 16s?
0:01–2:10
2
How does Ireland's approach to social media regulation differ from the UK's?
2:10–5:04
3
What challenges do experts see with enforcing age verification?
5:04–8:01
4
Why do child safety experts argue that bans may not be effective?
8:01–10:12
5
What role does the European Commission play in regulating social media?
10:12–13:14
6
How do social media algorithms affect young users?
13:14–16:23
7
What evidence exists regarding the effectiveness of social media bans?
16:23–19:03
8
What are the proposed solutions for safer online environments for children?
19:03–34:08
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from The Big Tech Show
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