Why do people want teens on social media??

[theprincessthepea]

I have a teen.

Today I told her that by the time the ban comes into affect when she is 16, it won’t make a difference to her life. But it will affect my toddler, and I’m happy that he will be growing up during a time where social media will be banned for children and young teens.

What I realised is that there are so many parents against the ban.

I see it every day. I was the last parent (out of my DDs friendship group of 6 girls) to give her a smart phone and allow her on social media - mainly because I was aware of what it’s like, and I witnessed my friend abuse MSN and Bebo back in the day and end up with older guys and pervs - that’s another story. But I remember a parent (DDs friends mum) telling me “I’ve set up a Snapchat for my daughter” (there were in year 5).
I asked her “why”
she said “I was told it’s good for them to socialise”

WTF!? AIBU for thinking that a lot of the work will go into convincing the public and parents that social media is bad. Just like we had to convince the public that smoking is bad.

If the amount of exploitation, low self esteem, online bullying, literally having an online account that is borderline only fans when you are a minor, whilst mum and dad think you study and love school (me and my daughter are super open about socials, she might have an account I don’t know about - but this is the point - us parents don’t get to protect our kids when they are in a virtual world that could be harmful).

Anyways that’s my rant. I’m all for the ban. Good luck with them implementing it. But I think we will be in a better place 10 years later (if the multiple crisis don’t get to us first).

Im also all for educational videos - but I don’t think this falls under this. As I do tell my DD to find an appropriate video when she’s stuck for revision.

I don't think it's state over reach. The goverment did actually consult the public - every single one of us was free to fill that consultation with our responses and thoughts.

Labour collected the data and then implemented what the majority of people wanted from that data.

9 in 10 people who responded to the survey wanted a full ban. The survey ran for 2 months and took about 15 mins to complete.

14,000 respondants were children themselves aged 10-21yrs and they wanted tighter controls.

news.sky.com/story/majority-of-young-people-want-better-online-protections-according-to-results-of-major-government-consultation-13553641

I can't really see how the government could have done it any fairer or more transparently

The government are not doing this because they care about our children. If you think that I suggest you read the rape gang enquiry report and see how the children who were being cared for by the authorities were treated. It’s a way to implement digital ID, nothing else matters to this government and certainly not your children’s welfare.

9/10 adults who responded to the survey said they wanted a full ban. Surely it would have been remiss off the government to ignore that and not implement one?

Given the UK model is going to be based on the Aus model which is currently enforced and does not require a digital ID, nor do the current porn age verification requirements which are in place in the UK there’s literally nothing to suggest it’s about bringing in a digital ID.
These same age checks are currently in place for other platforms, it’s just being expanded to social media.

Yes because the government always listens to what the people want.

Well they have in this case!

I dont agree the ban is a state overreach. It's a public health issue. The state has for a very long time imposed bans for things that are unsafe for our physical health, so what's the difference here? I am so grateful for the ban. People requesting that it should be a safer place online rather than an outright ban can't possibly see how that can actually be a acheived?! A ban is the easiest, most effective way of handling what is a crisis.

It depends what is imposed on adults to achieve it. As people will push back on that if it’s too onerous.

A few posts saying it’s only in app facial recognition and others that it’s passport linked or digital ID.

I mean the most cynical viewpoint would surely be that the govt dont want the mental health system (which is already struggling) to become completely overwhelmed by all the preteen/teen mental health issues. Poor mental health in these age groups is at an all time high! Social media is well known to be directly correlated with this. The only person who should be upset here is Farage and all his cronies because now his big tech mates who back him are about to lost a lot of money. Thank god for the ban.

They absolutely have here. Good on them! I was one of the many petition voters (which is how these things get into parliament for review in the first place)

The posts starting its a digital ID are not backed up in any way. We already have this exact same policy for porn sites where the sites where the user needs to pass checks verifying they are over 18 and no digital ID is needed so why would that suddenly change?
Then there’s the additional fact that the social media policy is modelled after the AUS one which again doesn’t require a digital ID

Did you respond to the government survey stating that you were opposed to the ban?

Well well well bloody said. I so agree with you. It’s not liberty but a horrible £ driven tech cage that literally drains lives away and changes the brain chemistry and relationships of children. You see the outcomes of it and I’m with you, delighted with the ban.

Based on, yes; but it's been described by the government as 'Australia PLUS'. We don't yet know what the 'plus' will entail, but I presume they must have deliberately added it for some reason.

I half-noticed a headline on the front of the Telegraph that suggested they were going to use digital ID to make it work; but they may be wrong or I may have misconstrued.

But the porn sites exist in a vacuum, and users are mostly embarrassed or at least coy about the fact that they use them. Nobody feels too ashamed to freely tell others that they're on Facebook or that they watch YouTube.

Think about all of the sites and functions that already exist online whereby you can use a password OR sign in with Facebook or other SM - and then it verifies and pulls all of your personal data across.

If you apply for official documentation online, they already offer a facility whereby you can use a 'trusted' platform/provider to prove you are who you say you are. This could very well be a Google, Microsoft or Meta 'partner'; but the government will never partner up with Filthzone.com for official ID purposes.

Like with so many things - government-mandated or corporate - there's no need to make something strictly compulsory; but it can just leave you so isolated and unable to do basic things in society if you 'choose' not to that it effectively becomes 'soft compulsory'.

Just like online banking isn't compulsory, but when all the branches are finally closed and cash is dead, you'll be able to either to 'choose' that method or otherwise 'choose' not to be able to buy food or anything else, or access basic utilities.

Ok hopefully. But someone posted an MP who talked about passports.

In trying to find who that was I ended up on Ofcom’s view on age verification.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/protecting-children/implementing-the-online-safety-act-protecting-children

I’ll just copy it all

• Open banking. A user can consent to their bank sharing information confirming they are over 18 with the online pornography service. Their full date of birth is not shared.
• Photo identification matching. Users can upload a photo-ID document, such as a driving licence or passport, which is then compared to an image of the user at the point of uploading to verify that they are the same person.
• Facial age estimation. The features of a user’s face are analysed to estimate their age[3].
• Mobile network operator age checks. Some UK mobile providers automatically apply a default content restriction which prevents children from accessing age-restricted websites. Users can remove this restriction by proving to their mobile provider that they are an adult, and this confirmation is then shared with the online pornography service.
• Credit cards checks. In the UK, credit card issuers are obliged to verify that applicants are over 18 before providing them with a credit card. A user can provide their credit card details to the online pornography service, after which a payment processor sends a request to check the card is valid to the issuing bank. Approval by the bank can be taken as evidence that the user is over 18.
• Digital identity wallets. Using a variety of methods, including those listed above users can securely store their age in a digital format, which the user can then share with the online pornography service.

Weaker age-checks won’t be enough (their heading) - they list what is weaker

The announcement also said Labour would go further than Australia. So I’m wondering what is that, and how will adults’ privacy be impacted.

The announcement also said Labour would go further than Australia. So I’m wondering what is that, and how will adults’ privacy be impacted.

Yes, surely it's blatantly obvious that, if you're copying somebody else's system that they've already found problems with, you're going to actively look for a way so that you don't also experience those same problems?

It reminds me of the old joke about Bob and Tom: two neighbours in identical houses, where Bob has just finished wallpapering his living room. Tom wants to paper his own living room, with the exact same paper, and so he asks Bob how many rolls he bought, and Bob says "I bought 35 rolls".

So Tom buys 35 rolls and completes the job, but he only ends up needing 15 of the rolls. He goes over to Bob and says "Hey, I bought 35 rolls like you did, but I had 20 of them left over after I'd finished!" Bob replies "Yes, same for me!"

The porn sites don’t exist in a vacuum, you need to verify your age for many parts of Reddit because the content is deemed to be over 18.

The point is these checks currently exist and operate in the UK and are workable without needing to upload your passport as proof as ID.

I’m literally not sure what point you are making, all those things currently exist. It’s likely the same checks would be used in the social media age restrictions since we already have so many workable ways to confirm age for an online platform.

Well obviously there’s a range of ways to impose checks and you don’t know which will be used yet.

It’s not that hard to get is it.

The people constantly claiming this is a digital ID are being purposely obtuse given we already have these checks in place, and there’s every suggestion the checks would be the same.
The government have stated if someone has already done the checks under the current restrictions to over 18 content then there will no additional steps, so it’s quite clear it’s not having to sign up to a digital ID or sharing passport information.

Its not hard to get is it.

Where’s the ‘every suggestion’ coming from, can you say who has said it’ll just be what we do already?

Given it has been stated if you have currently verified your age under the current over 18 content restrictions you won’t have to verify it again in a different way, it’s very clear it’s not mandatory to share ID.

Many adults won’t need to do checks because they’ve already got an account that:

• has been open more than 16 years
• has a credit card connected to it
• or is linked to an email address that’s age-verified in other ways

Some adults will have already done age verification checks under the existing Online Safety Act, so wouldn’t need to do them again.

Great if they stick to what is now. There is this, so it does depend what comes out of the study in October.

Rapid Implementation Study: Ofcom is conducting an immediate study (reporting by October 2026) to determine the most effective ways for platforms to verify if a user is over 16 without locking out eligible adults.

Well, yes - for the parts of Reddit that are dedicated to porn!