Will a ban keep the UK’s kids off social media? – podcast

Keir Starmer announced on Monday that he wanted to ban under-16s from social media. Parents were calling out for more controls he said. But their children … well, their children have other ideas.

“Snapchat, for example, is one of the best things that’s happened to me,” a 13-year-old tells Helen Pidd. “ I don’t think adults understand, that is how we talk to our friends and fit in.”

star himself he says he understands why children feel they will lose a valuable community if a ban is enacted in the UK. But he says he also thinks something needs to be done to protect children.

The technology reporter Chris Stokel-Walker thinks the ban is ill-advised and a political move. He says the government is not waiting for the evidence of its own study. would have shown what action would best protect children. “I just think it’s a really poorly thought through solution,” he says.