Mumsnet paused a “boomer” thread this morning, and…

Morning, everyone. We did pause the thread briefly while we reviewed it due to the volume of reports.

Age is, of course, a protected characteristic in law, and genuine age-based discrimination or harassment is something we take seriously. But that doesn’t mean every gripe or generational observation about older people is automatically unlawful ageism, any more than every gripe about Gen Z or millennials. Under the Equality Act, age discrimination is about someone being treated less favourably because of age in a context covered by the law.

The thread itself was also strongly challenged, which is part of how discussion works on the boards. We don’t think it amounts to targeting people because of age in the sense our guidelines are concerned with.

We also don’t think it’s helpful to make a straight comparison with racism. Race and age are both protected characteristics under the Equality Act, but the fact that both are protected does not mean every comment touching on them is equivalent. Reasonable people will draw the line in slightly different places, but our job is to moderate consistently. That means not treating every mention of “boomers” as inherently rule-breaking, while still stepping in where discussion tips into genuine hostility.

Talk

Mumsnet paused a “boomer” thread this morning, and…