ukpol
Well after two and a half weeks of ignoring the consultation it appears that the UK government is ready to move on new online restrictions for under 16s (and therefore everybody who has not ID verified)
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/12/uk-to-ban-under-16s-from-high-risk-social-media-apps
re: ukpol
Full announcement will come on Monday but their plan is to restrict "high-risk" platforms entirely and introduce functionality restrictions on "safer" ones - no info on what "high-risk" means, the article seems to suggest they may name specific platforms rather than trying to generically define such
re: ukpol
As for the features they want to ban on "safe" platforms - 2 seem to target ephemeral forms of communication - disappearing messages and livestreaming - probably due to concerns over abuse using such channels - but surely that only becomes worse if you enforce anything sent or received is permanent
re: ukpol
The other is "chats with adult strangers" but as there is no "child verification" (any adult is a "child" if they do not verify) and no real way for a platform to distinguish "strangers" I can only see this as ban on making friends and private communication online full stop, which massively sucks
re: ukpol
Anyway we'll see on Monday exactly what stupid bullshit those wankers have come up with
re: ukpol
In other words they may have abandoned the proposals that might require tech companies to moderate addictive design patterns or algorithms pushing harmful content but doubled down on the ones taking away agency and privacy from young people. Very typical UK government behaviour
re: ukpol
@lion no mention of VPNs yet either. Though I expect that might come later.
re: ukpol
@ret yeah i think this announcement has been rushed out ahead of the by-election and potential challenges to Starmer because they believe it will be well received (at least among ppl whose votes they care about) - but they know action against VPNs wouldn't be popular with anyone so they're probably kicking that can down the road
re: ukpol
it's also notable what is missing from the proposals in the consultation tbh
Nothing about engagement-driving features like algorithmic content or infinite scrolling, despite compulsive use being a key focus of the ban campaign (unless they define "high risk" platforms as the ones w/ those features)