According to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, using social media prevents children from doing their homework, reading, meeting up with their friends and going to bed on time. These are activities that help a child develop into an adult, the prime minister said. He hopes that Parliament will approve the law before Christmas, so that the ban can come into effect in spring 2027.
Ban easy to circumvent
“It is understandable that more and more countries are introducing a ban on social media for children,” says Rebecca Wald of the NJi. “It is an attempt to protect them from the potentially harmful effects of these platforms. Nevertheless, an age limit is not the solution. This is also evident from research results from Australia, the first country to introduce such a ban. Although the percentage of children on social media there fell slightly, most of them still use it. They can easily circumvent the ban. And so the actual problem remains: an online environment designed for profit rather than well-being.”
Age limit is Plan B
An age ban places the responsibility on young people, whereas according to Wald it should instead lie with the platforms and their business models. “An age limit can therefore really only be a temporary Plan B. Platforms can change, but as long as they refuse to do so, an age limit is merely a precautionary measure. The real solution is for platforms to adapt their business models, with safety as the central principle. In addition, fines for harmful features or incentives for safe design must be high enough that it ultimately becomes cheaper for platforms to invest in improvements. And only the government—not users—can regulate that.”