Tuesday briefing: Is a social media ban in the UK enough to help protect young people?

In depth: A seatbelt for the social media age

Many parents and campaigners believe that measures to ensure online safety don’t go far enough. Composite: Victoria Hart/Guardian Design

The Online Safety Act, the UK government’s first attempt to regulate young people’s online access – which Dan describes as a “seatbelt moment” – has only been in place for 11 months. There’s “a steady drumbeat of opinion among influential campaigners and parents, that what we have now is not enough, and we need more”.

That piece of legislation, the result of uphill efforts from campaigners pressing the previous Tory government whose instincts were to prioritise the commercial imperatives of tech companies, forces social media platforms and large search engines to prevent children from accessing harmful content, including pornography and material that promotes self-harm and eating disorders.

That legislation is yet to be fully bedded in, says Dan, and further challenges are on the horizon – the consultation on young people’s social media use, which only closed a few weeks ago, included the use of AI chatbots for the first time. Ofcom’s long-running research study, Children’s Media Lives, which has tracked the same group of young people from eight to 18 since 2014, notes that this year for the first time AI moved from “barely a footnote” to wholesale adoption.

At the same time, says Dan, we’re at an early stage of understanding how children’s cognitive and social development is affected by use of technology. For parents, policymakers and politicians, it feels like a moving target that is travelling at warp speed.

Can we expect ‘a radical safety overhaul’?

Over the past two years, I’ve spoken regularly to Ros and Mark Dowey, whose 16-year-old son Murray who took his own life after he fell victim to a sextortion gang on Instagram. They are now suing Meta for the alleged wrongful death of their son, in the first UK case of its kind.

The Doweys have always been sceptical about banning social media outright, recognising that a gradual on-ramp is better than a cliff-edge that doesn’t equip youngsters with the skills and confidence they need to navigate online spaces – and that a government ban fails to place responsibility squarely with social media companies.

There’s a growing consensus among online safety campaigners that, rather than implementing an Australia-style lock out, the UK government should instead block under-16s from accessing risky features such as infinite scrolling, disappearing messages and push notifications.

This tallies with the “layered approach” Dan anticipates from Starmer, “but it’s also clear the prime minister is going to demand a radical safety overhaul”. He expects to see a full ban for apps that are deemed unsafe; further restrictions to access features deemed unsafe, such as scrolling; action on game platforms like the hugely popular Roblox that allow adults and children to interact; and, potentially, age restrictions on who can use chatbots and the content of their discussions.

This comes as Starmer’s government introduces a legal ban on smartphones in schools in England, with the Scottish government planning similar legislation. Research on effectiveness is mixed: studies have shown a ban can improve classroom focus and discipline, but doesn’t by itself result in higher grades or happier teens, suggesting proposed school restrictions should be part of a wider strategy to lower phone use.

While most primary schools already press home the message that not everyone online is who they say they are, plans are now well under way to address the spread of online misinformation with older children.

Lessons from Australia

Deciding how and what to ban is the easy part, Dan tells me. Critics of Australia’s policy – which banned all under-16s from using social media last December and is being closely scrutinised – have highlighted that, six months later, the eSafety commissioner’s own data suggests two-thirds of people under 16 have remained on social media. Five companies – Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook – are under investigation for non-compliance with the ban.

Experts have also warned that those able to circumvent the ban are accessing sites without the restrictions those platforms have put in place for teens.

But this instant rush to judge the ban’s effectiveness ignores the incremental nature of regulation, says Dan. “You need to put the regulation in place and get it going in order to test it, then improve it, make it more efficient. Whatever happens in the UK will probably have a rocky start, too.”

It’s also a technologically complex issue.Age verification, for example, is a nascent industry – although Dan notes that the UK already has a “fairly robust” verification procedure for over-18s seeking to access pornography, so “there is a framework there that could be deployed to under-16s”.

What do young people want?

As well as the burning recognition from adults that young people deserve protection from online harm, there’s an accompanying acknowledgment that young people need to be involved in any conversation about what a youth-friendlier internet might look like.

The Ada Lovelace Institute recently interviewed a cohort of 14- to 24-year-olds about growing up online. Overall they voiced the strong opinion that future young people should not be able to access social media and technology in the way they did. They talked about their frustration with being warned of dependency on technology, while living in a digital-first society where many daily tasks – from school homework to job applications – have to be done online.

The Children’s Media Lives study has also identified a significant shift over the past two years in the way young people talk about short-form content – “brain rot” – recognising that endless passive consumption of content with no connecting thread is neither satisfying nor healthy.

Young people also challenge adults to improve their own digital literacy. When I interviewed Scottish teens about online harm – in that case sextortion – some were concerned their parents simply wouldn’t have the technical skills to help them. They were also blunt about the need for educators to speak their language – youngsters talk about “nudes” and “scuds”, not “intimate images”. Naturally, young people mirror the smartphone behaviours they see in adults around them. To address that, Sweden’s public health agency recently called on parents to declare parts of the home phone-free to help create healthy screen habits for the whole family.

With the very things we know to be harmful to young people – mindless scrolling, short-form videos, ease of messaging strangers – also being vital to how social media companies monetise attention, the goal of creating a child-friendly social media environment can often seen an unrealistic one given the business imperative.

Self-regulation has certainly failed, that much is obvious as we read the evidence from Meta whistleblowers, now being used in a number of court cases against the tech company, which indicate that big tech has been well aware of the harm their products can cause.

But the Online Safety Act, which carried a sanction of up to 10% of the global revenue or £18m of a company, has already shown that government is “willing to wield a big cudgel”, and Dan expects more of the same with Starmer’s proposals.

Another lesson from that law, Dan adds, is that UK tech firms are unwilling to defy government outright. “And because these firms like to have a uniform presentation across the world, there’s even the possibility that how they deal with the coming changes from the UK government could set a global precedent.”

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.

What else we’ve been reading

Stoopid Buddy Stoodios’ stop-motion animation ad for the Green Bay Packers was created by hand. Photograph: Stoop Buddy Studios/Green Bay Packers

• I still can’t seem to escape AI slop, but this entertaining read about the artists making “anti-slop” to combat the onslaught of AI-generated advertising offered reassurance that a more authentic, janky form of creativity will still continue to exist. Sinéad Campbell, newsletters team
• The New Yorker’s long read (£) on how Andrew Tate and his brother built an empire on exploitation is a terrifyingly thorough exposé on the pioneers of the manosphere. Toby Moses, head of newsletters
• Alexis Petridis’s interview with the techno producer Ibrahim Alfa Jr had me hooked from start to finish. It’s a fascinating story of isolation, illness and unabashed creativity. Sinéad
• Our TV desk has run down the best shows of 2026 so far – from Heated Rivalry’s gloriously steamy ice hockey romance to an Attenbrough retrospective, there’s bound to be something on there that piques your interest. Toby
• This great read about the changing attitudes towards the dog meat industry in Nigeria caught my attention, particularly the joyous photos of “dog mom” Jackie Idimogu and her canine friends. Sinéad

Sport

Ben Stokes (left) and Gus Atkinson are being investigated over an incident in a nightclub Photograph: Philip Brown/Getty Images

Cricket | Ben Stokes’ future as the England Test captain has been thrown into doubt after the England and Wales Cricket Board launched an investigation into “a breach of team protocol” related to an incident involving Stokes and Gus Atkinson that took place in a London nightclub in the early hours of Monday morning.

Tennis | Tatjana Maria, the reigning Queen’s Club women’s champion, has revealed her shock at not receiving a wildcard to defend her title this week, suggesting winning last year’s tournament should command greater respect.

Football | Scotland’s return to the World Cup after a 28-year absence has been immediately overshadowed by a war of words with Norway.

The front pages

Photograph: The Guardian

The Guardian’s splash today is “Zelensky takes aim at Reform UK’s ‘mistake’ on Ukraine flags”. The FT says “Israel and Iran halt exchange of blows as US pushes to extend ceasefire deal” and the Independent has “Trump’s desperate plea on ceasefire: ‘Stop shooting’”.

The Times leads with “West Ham owner ‘abused power to prey on women’”, the Mirror and the Sun also lead with the allegations and run the same headline of “‘Predator’”.

The i Paper runs “UK spying fears after secret camera found in Whitehall ceiling panel”, the Telegraph says “Billions in aid cash handed to terrorists” and the Mail asks “Is university a waste of money?”

Today in Focus: The Latest

The Latest. Photograph: The Guardian

Israel and Iran trade strikes: what does this mean for peace deal?

Israel and Iran have exchanged direct strikes for the first time since a ceasefire was reached in April, raising fears of a return to a full-scale regional war. In this episode, Nosheen Iqbal speaks to the Guardian’s senior international correspondent Julian Borger – watch on YouTube.

Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings

Illustration: Ben Jennings/The Guardian

The Upside

A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad

Make time for fun … kids can be the best guides for breaking out of a rut. Photograph: Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images

Stuck in a rut, or feel as if life could do with some extra sparkle? Author and artist Austin Kleon might just have you covered – and he has his two kids to thank. “Everything in the culture [of art] says kids are the antithesis of creative work,” he says. Actually, Kleon realised, “they can be a great catalyst, an energy source that you can plug into”. It’s all about embracing your inner child.

This worked wonders for Elle Hunt, who put Kleon’s advice into practice: make time for fun, find what you love, be your own parent, learn from scratch and create with your hands. It’s all about “making stuff, messing around and following your nose”, says Kleon. “Play is not a frivolous thing: you need it, this is how you keep your spirit alive.”

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Bored at work?

And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.

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