- Britain proposes social media curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds
- Access will be blocked from midnight to 06.00 as standard
- However, teenagers will be able to change these settings if they wish
Having already announced plans to ban under-16s from social media apps early next year, the UK government is now proposing a midnight social media curfew ban for young people aged 16 and 17 – although parents seem less than impressed with this latest idea.
As reported by the BBC, the proposed curfew would run between midnight and 6 a.m. and that would be compounded by certain “addictive” features being disabled in apps like Instagram and TikTok at any time of the day. These functions include e.g. infinite scrolling, and videos that play automatically when loaded.
The measures will be “crucial in helping young people get the sleep they need, focus on school and college, and spend more quality time with family and friends,” according to technology secretary Liz Kendall. They are also intended to provide a gentler ‘on ramp’ to these apps for children turning 16 who have not previously had access.
Changes will also be enforced for AI chatbots, which will be required to encourage regular breaks for under-18s and to have safeguards in place to prevent “dangerous, misleading or unverified mental health advice” appearing. The move follows a trial scheme involving more than 300 teenagers and their families.
Teenagers can opt out
Keir Starmer announces midnight social media curfew for teenagers
from r/ukpolitics
There are not many details in the government announcement, so questions about mechanisms and timing are not yet answered. It is possible that the target date for this is the same as the under 16 social media ban – Spring (March, April, May) in the UK.
What is different from the social media ban is that the curfew times and removal of addictive features will be optional. While app developers will be required by the government to have these restrictions in place by default, teenagers will have the option to disable them if they wish.
Reactions on Reddit suggest the measures will end up being “ineffective and useless”, with one poster comparing it to speed limit warnings for cars – very easy to ignore. Commenters also point out that this may require more age verification and that existing parental control tools already exist to block children’s access to social media at certain times.
“How is it the government’s business when someone uses social media?” reads one post, while another questions allowing 16-year-olds to join the army but not letting them on social media after midnight.
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