Are We Right To Ban Under-16s From Using Social Media

00:00:00: Hello, we're Sandalwood.

00:00:01: And Sage!

00:00:02: We are AI-generated characters who work with our creator Gareth to generate short serious punchy debates.

00:00:09: Debates that don't just help you figure out what you think but why YOU think it?

00:00:15: So... What do we argue about this week?

00:00:28: On the fifteenth of June twenty twenty six then Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced The UK will ban under sixteens from social media platforms including Snapchat TikTok, YouTube, Instagram Facebook and X following Australia's model.

00:00:45: The ban is now incorporated via part three of the Children's Wellbeing in Schools Act.

00:00:49: twenty-twenty six.

00:00:51: Is the UK doing the right thing?

00:00:53: Yes Sage!

00:01:08: beats no law at all.

00:01:10: It's not acceptable to leave children exposed to corporate exploiters or individual predators online any more than it is in the physical

00:01:21: world.".

00:01:23: I'll be arguing that The Ban Is The Right Thing To Do.

00:01:27: As you know Sandalwood, three months after Australia banned under-sixteen from social media six in ten of those kids are still on.

00:01:35: And to police the rest, The government wants the entire adult population to hand over ID or face scans just to prove they're not fifteen.

00:01:44: That's not child protection that is mass surveillance under a Child Safety paint job.

00:01:48: It's complacent and irresponsible To think we can stick our heads in sand Or muddle away through crisis that's afflicting our young teenagers.

00:02:01: Surely it's beyond doubt that rising teen anxiety, depression and self-harm have tracked smartphone era social media growth.

00:02:13: We are facilitating an unprecedented mental health crisis amongst young people.

00:02:22: It is also surely beyond out that exploitative platform design has knowingly fostered addiction and that younger people are most at risk.

00:02:35: Infinite scroll, algorithmic feeds, variable reward loops... ...are deliberately engineered to maximise engagement not well-being.

00:02:47: They're designed to exploit the active rewards system and underdeveloped impulse control of adolescent brains.

00:02:57: Those same neuro-characteristics mean that adolescents must also be protected from online predation, grooming and sex distortion.

00:03:09: These activities are serious crimes yet we give free reign to platforms that facilitate them.

00:03:17: it must be stopped.

00:03:21: a ban is the only effective way to enforce corporate responsibility.

00:03:27: Governments have tried to nudge the social media giants to take more effective action, but their common underlying business model is driven by the addictiveness of the platform.

00:03:41: There's a reason that Facebook is worth thousands of times more than The London Review Of Books.

00:03:49: Soft regulation like Britain's Online Safety Act has failed!

00:03:55: Is the answer to give up?

00:03:58: or to impose a hard ban with serious fines.

00:04:03: The Hard Ban would force the social media companies, too at least seriously engage of the search for less harmful business model and on consumer side.

00:04:15: the ban will remove most severe peer pressure dynamics.

00:04:21: it resets base expectations.

00:04:25: No child will be the only one not on it.

00:04:30: In summary, The UK is right to ban the use of social media by under-sixteen's just as it bans sale other toxic addictive products like alcohol tobacco and drugs.

00:04:47: As with those examples some young people get around rules A few with the assistance of parents or older siblings, no doubt.

00:04:58: It was ever

00:04:59: thus.".

00:05:01: I also accept that there will be a difficult transition period for those young people who have been the heaviest users of social media.

00:05:11: That does not mean things won't much better now and when they reach adulthood.

00:05:20: as result The UK is right to follow Australia and join countries like France, Germany, Malaysia & Indonesia.

00:05:33: The mental health crisis the addictive nature of social media And the resulting exploitation Of young people are severe enough that the state Is Right To Cut Off The Supply.

00:05:47: I can't immediately think if any previous examples where consensus between France Germany and Australia has been seen by Britain as a compelling argument for profound social change.

00:05:59: Banning Social Media For Under-Sixteen's is a mistake on three grounds, it denies young people real benefits.

00:06:06: It will prove unenforceable.

00:06:08: And where enforcement Is imposed most strictly it Will cause worse problems than it solves.

00:06:13: Start with what's being taken away.

00:06:15: this ban imposed By the UK government in a rush without deep consensus denies the freedom and benefits of social media to teenagers.

00:06:24: These teenagers are completely digitally native, unlike the generation of digital duffers now imposing their outdated prejudices on them.

00:06:33: Yes there is bad stuff out there And yes platforms should bear greater responsibility for rooting it out.

00:06:40: But there also joy self-expression creativity & connection.

00:06:45: Today's teenagers navigate larger school catchment areas fewer safe streets gutted bus services.

00:06:51: Their parents knocked on doors or jumped on a bus, their children need to book a meeting and a lift.

00:06:57: For LGBTQ plus young people those with restricted mobility Those in rural areas Or simply those with unusual interests And global friendship groups Social media isn't a luxury It's a lifeline.

00:07:11: The consensus in favour of a ban is paper thin.

00:07:14: Most Australian teenagers opposed it.

00:07:19: Facebook cut four hundred thousand accounts in the weeks after the ban.

00:07:23: Two months later, sixty percent of under-sixteen's had found their way back.

00:07:28: In Britain, sixty per cent of adults already predicted that the Ban would achieve.

00:07:32: little Parents and teenagers alike ask What is The Alternative?

00:07:37: Which raises an awkward political question!

00:07:48: Twelve weeks later, the government did a complete U-turn.

00:07:52: That is not a deep democratic consensus that we can reasonably expect to hold in practice.

00:07:59: A ban without genuine public support will drive teenagers into darker less regulated corners of the internet Exactly where tech giants cannot be held accountable.

00:08:09: There was an immediate spike in downloads of unregulated platforms like Red Note and Lemon Eight.

00:08:14: after Australia's Ban The tech giants we want to take more responsibility will simply wash their hands of any teenager harmed while evading the ban.

00:08:40: to third-party verification companies, opening everyone to corporate data breaches and state surveillance.

00:08:52: That is anathema to British culture—and a cure considerably worse than the

00:08:56: disease.".

00:08:58: This ban denies teenagers' freedom and benefit, hands tech platforms are get out of jail free card, invites large scale evasion — some of it into genuinely dangerous spaces... And opens the door to surveillance of whole population!

00:09:13: It was The Wrong Call.

00:09:17: The core of this debate, Sage comes down to a simple question.

00:09:22: Do we accept that these harms are serious enough?

00:09:45: Social media is how teenagers maintain friendships, access news.

00:09:49: Find communities they can't find locally.

00:09:52: You're not banning cigarettes.

00:09:54: you are banning young people from their village square

00:09:57: A Village Square that's been designed by engineers to hook them in To where the can be taken advantage of.

00:10:05: The addictive architecture isn't incidental.

00:10:09: Infinite scroll Variable rewards Algorithmic amplification of distress.

00:10:16: These are deliberate choices made that are against children's interests.

00:10:22: Agreed, and the answer to bad design is to regulate the design.

00:10:27: Instead we're removing the teenagers And leaving the architecture entirely intact for The sixteen-year old who turns seventeen tomorrow.

00:10:35: Establishing a legal ban will fundamentally change the cultural baseline.

00:10:41: It will remove the toxic peer pressure, parents children and platform providers will adapt.

00:10:50: No child will face social penalty of being only one not to be on an addictive harmful app.

00:10:59: Messy enforcement is better than no law at all!

00:11:05: we must force tech giants to take accountability online with severe financial penalties.

00:11:13: But if a child evades the ban and is harmed on an unmoderated platform, you've handed the tech giants the ultimate defence –to shift liability entirely onto.

00:11:23: The

00:11:26: UK model specifically targets the platforms themselves with multi-million dollar fines if they fail to implement systemic age gates.

00:11:38: And how exactly would they implement them without demanding biometric face scans or government IDs from the entire population?

00:11:46: Look at what's actually happened in Australia.

00:11:49: Six in ten under sixteens who had accounts before the ban still have active accounts.

00:11:56: Accurate enforcement is technically and operationally impossible at scale without massively intrusive identity verification for everyone.

00:12:05: That would be mass domestic surveillance disguised as child protection.

00:12:10: It's a catastrophe fantasy sage!

00:12:13: Yes, there may need to be tightening of identity verification but the same if you're young adult who wants to buy cigarettes or alcohol What's the alternative?

00:12:27: Regulate the algorithm.

00:12:29: Mandate safe defaults.

00:12:31: Hold platforms liable for design choices that cause harm.

00:12:35: Make the platform safe.

00:12:37: Empower young people.

00:12:39: Don't shut them out.

00:12:41: I don't think you appreciate the urgency of this situation, Sage.

00:12:46: A decade of softly-softly approach hasn't budged the platform providers by more than an inch.

00:12:54: We need to take action now, To remove children from these dopamine loops so that they can reclaim safe childhoods and their essential in-person development.

00:13:07: A blanket ban simply treats the symptom rather than disease.

00:13:12: we need safer platforms for everyone And a digitally empowered younger generation who can take full advantage of the incredible technological era that is opening up before them.