Brits. What do you make of the incoming social media ban for youngsters ?

I think it's brilliant but also, parents need to parent and monitor their children's online activity.

Not a Brit here but I am not convinced that social media is the only problem. Do kids even have places to go to play or socialize in a safe and meaningful way anymore? Do they even know how to entertain themselves without their electronic devices? Do parents teach their kids about the dangers on the internet or actually teach them to be a decent human being with a good moral compass overall?

As for the safety concerns for adults, I heard that Australia forbade any social media platform to request only personal ID as a way to verify one's age. They have to offer other ways too. For example a photo of the face and yeah, good luck with it for young people over 16. I had been carded well into my late 20s by humans, let alone a machine.

It should be 18. They need to learn to socialise in person first.

Been against this digital tracking ever since the 1990s.

This is just another step towards global tracking.

Yeah they have your IP addresses. Yeah ask why do they keep that data at all? Why is it even legal? It was with great pride that ISPs of all types in the 1990s said that they didn't keep any data.

That simply is no longer the case. The memory is so cheap now it doesn't cost them much at all to track everything.

Or do you not remember that 20 megabyte hard drive was the maximum of the 1990s? While I have a terabyte of memory on an SD card for my cellphone.

Don’t agree with it what about all the other youngsters who can be responsible and know what sites are ok and who are strong not to be bullied and can give it back and if they think under 16 s should be banned then how can uk government say they are capable of voting when they want voting age down to 16

I'm all for it ...wish they would do that in US ...they have parents suing everyone instead ....how is that supposed to help a child's mental well being ? Pfft

Its been a long time coming. Parents have as much responsibility in monitoring what their kids are viewing

It's never a good idea to let government censor you. But 99% of what is on the Internet is a total waste of time. Porn and video games destroy lives.

As a parent I’m in favour.

Forgetting all the standard issues with social media and the internet, it can be a source of bullying. Our kids have been raised not to be too dependant on screen time.

Doubt it will work.

I'm probably going to have an unpopular opinion but I don't really like it.
The parents and other reasonable parties should be monitoring the child not the state.
A law by itself that says no one under 16 should be on the social internet should be enough and it's up to the parents,schools, social media platforms, to enforce it .
No companies that provide service and no shops could sell to anyone under 16 by law.
People are going to get around this no matter what the government likes or does not like.
It feels like putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound and not fixing the problem.
Platforms need to kick off anyone who's bullying the responsibility should not rest on the state for everything.
The parents,the companies,schools, and social media outlets- need to start taking responsibility and getting in real trouble if they don't.
Let the state make the law and punish those who do not follow the law ,but put the responsibility for obeying the law on the citizens.

Its not about "protecting the youngsters"......its about digital ID for everyone. The digital prison is being erected around our ears

I hope it works but it will hard to control, and we have to recognise some parents are likely to help their children evade the controls.

The major social-media sites do need take much more responsibility though, as publishers of everything on their sites.

Not sure how they can work it. Also, they make it sound like bullying, etc., didn't exist before social media -- it did. Except instead of just nasty words you got punched, too.