Meta will comply by doing all the things they already do, as may TikTok but do we really expect that X will comply when Elon just fired 99% of his moderators however age verification is a joke, it’s essentially a tick box that says I’m over 13 ( or whatever). We do it too in order to comply with COPPA but the elephant in the room is that anyone can tick a box what are companies supposed to do, ask for ID? Only allow kids to sign up if validated by parents (and if so how do they know the parental account is genuine)
I mean... yeah? Better that than pretending you've got a solution when all you've done is pointed to someone else and said 'do this impossible thing'. You might as well say it's fine the Titanic didn't have enough lifeboats because people could have just flown off if there was a problem. That's what happens now. Illegal content is already illegal.
Ofcom are largely a joke, they’re the regulator for tv , radio, adverts, telephone companies and so on and in general do a piss poor job of it… they’re not remotely set up or resourced to fight a legal battle with say X who can afford much better lawyers and tie the matter up in court for years
Well, I applaud the UK government for this move. They sound quite serious about it. Social media is the monster devouring our children. I'd say the particularly vulnerable age group is 12-15. There is fear out there, and it's incumbent upon governments to respond. They'll do the best with the resources they have. At the least, an important issue is being brought to the forefront.
You can ban them from doing business in the UK. That's bypassable with VPNs but a) not everyone will know how to do that and b) not everyone will be willing to pay ~£9 a month for them. They're sure to loose users. Not sure how many though.
TikTok has literally resulted in the deaths of numerous children. And studies have shown that its terrible for your attention span. I've never downloaded it, and I never will.
But the British public would go apeshit if they did that in general this is going to be one of those virtue signalling acts which achieves very little other than to briefly take the media focus off the other things happening in the world it’s like all the fuss around GDPR which actually achieved very little that sites weren’t already doing…
strictly poor parenting and poor upbringing led to those deaths by creating kids who lacked the critical thinking skills to say ‘ yeah maybe I won’t swallow a tide pod or stick a coin into a plug or whatever just because some dink on TikTok says I should
As someone who actually lives in the uk our government couldn’t manage their way out of a wet paper bag This will be a seven day wonder and then get forgotten until the politicians need to virtue signal again
Ouch. Harsh judgement. It's easy to be sucked into the bang-bang-bang of the scrolling messages of social media. We need to protect our kids, not judge them.
Those factors may have played roles in their deaths. But I don't think they're solely responsible. I feel that some kids are more prone to doing harmful types of engagement on social media. Like kids with ASD, ADHD, etc. The way your brain is wired matters. And social media algorithms prey on your vulnerable behaviors by showing you what stimulates your brain the most.
I remember stupid lethal games long before tiktok. There was one choking game when I went to school that all the cool kids partook in. The question, then, becomes if kids are doing lethal things more because of social media, or if they've always done stupid things?
Both. Yes, kids have always done stupid things. Now give them the platforms of social media and watch them really take off.
This. Kids have been doing dumb stuff for centuries. The problem is that the TikTok algorithm actively promotes these harmful challenges, so more kids are exposed to them. And unlike in a school environment where teachers are around, there is much less supervision on the platform. Kids are able to explore it freely without restriction. Here's a good article on this.
That is not what the legislation covers. It covers topics like self-harm, pedophilia, misogyny, religious extremism and racial supremacy and so on. As far as I'm aware, these topics are not taught in schools. Unlike in the US, it is not about partisan politics or culture wars.
They can. On the other hand, books do not generally involve people egging teenagers on to committing suicide in real time. It's unlikely that a book that glamourises suicide would be published.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jul/31/london-2012-tom-daley-twitter-troll Regarding the 17 year-old 'perp,' I can't find any evidence of a death threat. I welcome a source if you've got it, otherwise he in particular did not send it or threaten in any other way. He even apologised about the tweet in question.
What's that, eh? I can't hear you over all this money I'm printing. Canada is no better. I mean, potholes are a civic matter, but your flavour there is correct.
