Game on for Britain’s social media ban, writes LBC's Will Guyatt
LBC's Tech Correspondent Will Guyatt goes behind the headlines
The PM's confirmation of the social media ban comes as no surprise, thanks to media coverage over the hours and days before, but the inclusion of AI chatbots and gaming platforms shows that the term "Australia Plus" is well deserved, and the government appears committed to patching up some gaping holes in existing law.
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The Online Safety Act, passed in 2023, already feels prehistoric, despite only recently becoming law. As part of the social media ban, the new law will stop under-16s from accessing romantic or sexual chatbots.
With more young people turning to chatbots for everything from schoolwork to relationship advice, all eyes will be on whether the government chooses to impose further restrictions on the use of this technology down the line. After all – will this law count a chatbot as a stranger, and who is liable for its output? Neither of these points has yet been legally defined.
When it comes to gaming, the new law will stop young gamers from communicating with strangers via games or their connected apps or services. Based on numbers recently published by Ofcom, an estimated 90% – around 9m under-16s – regularly play in the UK.
Whatever happens, parents will have another set of changes to negotiate and additional platforms to keep an eye on after the ban, as gaming is second to social media in most young people's lives.
Gaming platforms have become another place where young people can face abuse and harm – but sadly, that's the reality of any space where people can congregate, either virtually or in person. In the cold light of day, it seems wild that most gaming platforms still allow young people to chat freely by default.
As is often the case, parental controls exist for these platforms, but as leading child psychologists have said, trying to introduce controls to previously unrestricted devices is like trying to get the genie back into the bottle.
Perhaps the only certainty from the social media ban announcement is that technology will not wait for it – so policy will indeed have to evolve. The ban answers the questions most of us were already asking, but we're already building a list of new ones in the LBC newsroom.
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Will Guyatt is LBC's Tech Correspondent.
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