Britain to strengthen control over social media platforms in order to protect teenagers
Britain could consider further measures to protect young people from social media risks in the New Year after introducing new online safety laws targeting children and cracking down on illegal content, a minister said.
The online safety law, which became law in October, requires platforms such as Meta’s Instagram and Alphabet’s YouTube to strengthen enforcement of illegal content and age verification measures.
Major platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat require users to be at least 13 years old.
According to a Bloomberg report, the British government is looking into cracking down on social media access for children under 16, including possible bans.
Science Minister Andrew Griffith said on Friday that the government had always sought to strike a balance between important freedoms and parental control.
“If there’s a hearing at some point in the future, and as I say, it’s speculation at the moment, looking at how you can continue to protect minors over the internet freedom of adults is always something that a sensible government I. would think to look at,” he told Times Radio.
