What is the UK’s social media ban? | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:00the government will ban access to social
2. 0:02media for all children under the age of
3. 0:0516.
4. 0:08>> [applause]
5. 0:09>> Honestly, it's just wow. I didn't I
6. 0:12thought they'd give it like more time to
7. 0:13think about it and all the effects it
8. 0:16would have.
9. 0:17>> I'm absolutely over the moon. What a
10. 0:18brilliant announcement this morning.
11. 0:20>> This is big, isn't it? This is a
12. 0:21generational shift.
13. 0:23>> We are dismayed by the announcement
14. 0:25[music] that the Prime Minister has
15. 0:26made.
16. 0:27>> This day will go down as a day of huge
17. 0:31consequence for this country.
18. 0:33>> Suddenly, you're going to have a lot
19. 0:35more time to fill. And what will you do?
20. 0:38>> Stare at a wall.
21. 0:43>> From next spring, there'll be no more
22. 0:44social media for under 16s in the UK.
23. 0:47We're going to answer your questions on
24. 0:49how the ban will work, what it means for
25. 0:51gaming, and what other countries are
26. 0:53doing. Let's start with the question
27. 0:55most people are asking. Which platforms
28. 0:58will be banned? We know it will include
29. 1:00TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Joe
30. 1:03Tidy, our cyber correspondent, is with
31. 1:05us to explain more. So, Joe, what's the
32. 1:07full list of banned sites?
33. 1:09>> We don't have the full list, I'm afraid.
34. 1:11We have, as you say, a short list of the
35. 1:13big ones. All the ones you can imagine,
36. 1:15the household names. So, that is
37. 1:17Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram,
38. 1:19Facebook, and X. Probably Reddit, too,
39. 1:22but that's not confirmed. The government
40. 1:24says that they're going to ban any
41. 1:26platform whose purpose, this is a quote,
42. 1:28is to enable social interaction and
43. 1:30which allow users to post material. So,
44. 1:32that does include quite a lot of
45. 1:33platforms.
46. 1:34>> Okay, those are the platforms that we
47. 1:36know are banned. Which ones will under
48. 1:3816s still have access to, Joe?
49. 1:41>> We know that YouTube Kids is exempt from
50. 1:43this ban, and we also know that chat
51. 1:44apps, so WhatsApp and Signal, are also
52. 1:47not in the ban.
53. 1:49>> And how will that ban work?
54. 1:51>> We don't know. There are lots of
55. 1:52different ways they could do it. They've
56. 1:54said that they want to use
57. 1:56highly effective age assurance
58. 1:58technology. So that could be for example
59. 2:00facial scans that guess your age. They
60. 2:03might use
61. 2:04your account history on your email
62. 2:06that's registered to the social media
63. 2:08account or your actual activity on that
64. 2:09account. So for example, if you had an
65. 2:11account for more than 16 years, they
66. 2:13won't ban you for obvious reasons. But
67. 2:15there's also been a little bit of
68. 2:16discussion today about whether or not it
69. 2:17will be on a device level. We don't
70. 2:19think that's how they're going to do it.
71. 2:20So for example, in some countries like
72. 2:22in China there is a minor mode which is
73. 2:24where parents click on a button
74. 2:26basically and say that this this this
75. 2:28phone is a minor's phone. So therefore
76. 2:30they're No, they can't download any of
77. 2:32the apps that we're talking about. But
78. 2:33we don't know exactly what the
79. 2:35mechanisms are going to be. We hopefully
80. 2:36will find out a little bit more in July.
81. 2:39>> And a lot of children and parents will
82. 2:40want to know when will the ban start?
83. 2:43>> Well, the Kids Commissioner said this
84. 2:44morning that it would be the regulation
85. 2:46would be in place by Christmas. Excuse
86. 2:48me, [clears throat] and that the actual
87. 2:49ban will take effect in spring. So
88. 2:51March, April, May, that kind of thing
89. 2:53we're we're thinking.
90. 2:55>> Okay, for the moment Joe, thank you. Now
91. 2:57the government says nine in 10 parents
92. 2:59support a social media ban for under
93. 3:0116s. But what about children? We spoke
94. 3:03to some 11 to 14-year-olds in
95. 3:05Lancashire.
96. 3:06>> Could you please put your hands up,
97. 3:08those of you who welcome the ban? Hands
98. 3:10up for those who welcome [music] the
99. 3:12ban.
100. 3:12>> I didn't think it would actually happen.
101. 3:14I kind of believed that he'd chicken out
102. 3:16of it and give it more time.
103. 3:18>> I know in the future it will have
104. 3:21will have a positive impact on young
105. 3:24people's lives and their mental health.
106. 3:27>> I just feel that like [music] it maybe
107. 3:29shouldn't have been banned. Maybe it
108. 3:30should be more restricted so you can't
109. 3:32talk to people that you don't know.
110. 3:33>> I'm not happy at all because
111. 3:36I think like [music] Jack said, I don't
112. 3:37think
113. 3:39it should be banned, but I think it
114. 3:40should be like limited.
115. 3:41>> Feel a bit gutted cuz now I've got to
116. 3:43find new things on what to do instead of
117. 3:45just staying on my phone.
118. 3:48>> And we've had a lot of questions asking
119. 3:50will the ban affect gaming platforms,
120. 3:52news beats, games expert Tom Richardson
121. 3:54has more on that.
122. 3:56>> If you're a fan of Roblox, Minecraft,
123. 3:58[music] or Fortnite, you might be
124. 3:59wondering how they're going to be
125. 4:00affected by the UK social media ban. The
126. 4:03good news for fans is that none of the
127. 4:04games are going to be banned, but the
128. 4:06way that players interact with each
129. 4:07other is [music] going to be affected.
130. 4:09Once the rules come into force, under
131. 4:1116s won't be able to contact strangers
132. 4:13via in-game chat. It's not a huge
133. 4:15departure from existing [music] child
134. 4:16accounts, which are controlled by a
135. 4:18parent or guardian and allow them to
136. 4:19restrict the features that young players
137. 4:21have access to. The government's also
138. 4:23mentioned [music] live streaming in its
139. 4:24social media ban, although it's not
140. 4:25entirely clear what it means by this.
141. 4:28We've asked [music] if it includes
142. 4:29streaming sites like Twitch, which are
143. 4:30hugely popular with video game fans.
144. 4:33>> Back to Joe, what's been the reaction
145. 4:35from the social media firms to the ban?
146. 4:38>> Well, as you can imagine, they're not
147. 4:39overly happy about this. We've heard
148. 4:40from Meta, which of course runs Facebook
149. 4:42and Instagram. They've said it will not
150. 4:44achieve the goal of keeping teenagers
151. 4:46safe online. They've quoted here, "As
152. 4:48we've seen in Australia, bans risk
153. 4:50isolating teens from online communities
154. 4:52and information and driving them to
155. 4:54unregulated alternatives that lack
156. 4:56built-in protections and parental
157. 4:58controls." We've heard that from quite a
158. 4:59few of these platforms as well, and
159. 5:01YouTube has also said that
160. 5:02this is the wrong decision that's that's
161. 5:04taking away what they're describing as a
162. 5:06vital resource, so YouTube for kids.
163. 5:10>> So, the UK is getting a ban. What about
164. 5:12other countries around the world?
165. 5:15>> Australian children are waking up
166. 5:17without access to social media.
167. 5:19>> of 16 in this country has officially
168. 5:21lost access.
169. 5:22>> Australia was the first country to ban
170. 5:24social media for under 16s, with the law
171. 5:26coming into effect in December last
172. 5:28year.
173. 5:29>> Spain and Portugal seem to be the next
174. 5:30in line, [music] with politicians
175. 5:31announcing plans and partly voting rules
176. 5:33in. Bans are likely to come into force
177. 5:34in the next year. China [music] has
178. 5:36wide-reaching restrictions on young
179. 5:38people's access to social media,
180. 5:39including tiered age restrictions,
181. 5:41screen time limits, anti-addiction
182. 5:43measures, and age-appropriate content
183. 5:45filters. [music]
184. 5:46The Canadian government has proposed a
185. 5:48ban for children under 16.
186. 5:50>> Governments in France, Malaysia,
187. 5:51>> Denmark,
188. 5:52>> Indonesia,
189. 5:52>> and Norway are also in the process of
190. 5:54bringing in a ban.
191. 5:55>> Most countries have settled on 16 being
192. 5:57the age to [music] allow children on
193. 5:59social platforms.
194. 6:00>> But some, including Denmark, are using
195. 6:0215 as the bar.
196. 6:04>> Australia has had the ban for 6 months
197. 6:06now, so are there lessons to be learned
198. 6:08from them? Our Sydney correspondent,
199. 6:10Katie Watson, has been finding out.
200. 6:12>> I have TikTok, I have Snapchat, [music]
201. 6:14and I didn't get notifications for any
202. 6:16of them to be banned. I wasn't kicked
203. 6:18off [music] of any of them. None of my
204. 6:20accounts got banned, which was a bit
205. 6:22anticlimactic.
206. 6:23>> I know of three girls [music] out of my
207. 6:25entire year group, which is 180, that
208. 6:27have been impacted. So, that's about
209. 6:29[music] one out of 60, which is not a
210. 6:32lot.
211. 6:32>> If you were to ask any Australian
212. 6:33teenager whether it's working, um it
213. 6:35would probably be a resounding no.
214. 6:37Certainly, pretty much [music] everyone
215. 6:38we've spoken to, they seem to be on some
216. 6:40social media of some sort. And there are
217. 6:43some There's some data that backs that
218. 6:46up, but we're really small
219. 6:47sample sizes. And I think that's the
220. 6:49thing is [music] it's still really early
221. 6:50days. Uh it's still 6 months. We don't
222. 6:53know, um you know, what the long-term
223. 6:55goals are. And that's exactly what the
224. 6:56government here is saying. It's saying
225. 6:58[music] this wasn't a short-term thing.
226. 7:00This is we're in it for the long game.
227. 7:01It's, you know, we're also looking at
228. 7:03the idea of the law being a circuit
229. 7:05breaker. [music] So, for younger people,
230. 7:07you know, the 12, 13-year-olds who
231. 7:08perhaps have not gone on to social media
232. 7:10[music] yet, will change their habits,
233. 7:12too. But if you speak to experts, tech
234. 7:14experts, they would say this is a bad
235. 7:17idea that it has not [music] helped, you
236. 7:19know, children understand the you know,
237. 7:21safety around being online, and that um
238. 7:24certainly it is crucial. [music] But,
239. 7:26you know, at the end of the day, it's
240. 7:27still, as I said, the data is is is
241. 7:29lacking. Um it's a it's very early days,
242. 7:32but certainly it's [music] been a a big
243. 7:34inspiration um for many countries. And
244. 7:36of course, now we're seeing the UK.
245. 7:41>> Our cyber correspondent, Joe Tidy, is
246. 7:42still with us and another question is
247. 7:45why is the ban happening now, Joe?
248. 7:47>> Well, I think the short the short answer
249. 7:49is there is a huge amount of public
250. 7:50support for this. The government had a
251. 7:51consultation and found that nearly nine
252. 7:54in 10 of the adults they spoke to, the
253. 7:56parents, were in favor of a ban. But, I
254. 7:58think the kind of longer longer answer
255. 8:00here really is that the last few years,
256. 8:03probably since about 2022-2023,
257. 8:05there have been some really high-profile
258. 8:07and tragic cases of teenagers taking
259. 8:09their own lives because of what they've
260. 8:11seen on social media and because of the
261. 8:13conversations they've been having. For
262. 8:14example, there's been harmful content
263. 8:16that they've been shown on uh eating
264. 8:18disorders, that kind of thing. But, also
265. 8:19there's been some cases of uh sextortion
266. 8:22where children have been blackmailed uh
267. 8:24and they've taken their lives. So, I
268. 8:25think that those kind of news moments
269. 8:27and also the campaigning that's been
270. 8:29done over the last few years by grieving
271. 8:31and very uh passionate parents has
272. 8:33really filtered down. I think it's not
273. 8:35just in the UK, but around the world
274. 8:37there is this global move.
275. 8:39>> And we've been hearing reaction from
276. 8:41some bereaved families. Take a listen to
277. 8:44Louise Gibson.
278. 8:45>> I'm the mother of Noah. He died from
279. 8:47what I believe is a social media
280. 8:49challenge in December 2021. He was 11.
281. 8:53I think it's fantastic. I think it
282. 8:55needed to be done. It's a shame that
283. 8:57it's taken so long, but I think it's
284. 9:00there. It's moving in the right
285. 9:01direction
286. 9:02um and it will help protect so many
287. 9:04children.
288. 9:06>> One big question is will the ban work?
289. 9:08The Prime Minister is being realistic
290. 9:10about it.
291. 9:11>> This might shock you, but it doesn't
292. 9:13shock parents of teenagers.
293. 9:15They get around other laws, too.
294. 9:18>> And Joe, whether children can get around
295. 9:20the ban is absolutely key, isn't it?
296. 9:23>> Well, it is, yes. And and then people
297. 9:24will say that the ban has failed if they
298. 9:27if there's a huge number of teenagers
299. 9:28who are still able to get on these apps,
300. 9:30like we've seen in Australia. But, I
301. 9:31think what Katie said there is also
302. 9:33really important because of course this
303. 9:34is a long-term plan and there is a a
304. 9:37sort of transition period from teenagers
305. 9:39who are perhaps using the apps now, and
306. 9:41then that will be taken away from them.
307. 9:42They'll be very exercised to get back on
308. 9:44the apps using VPNs and other ways
309. 9:47around it. But then, there will be
310. 9:48younger children, of course, coming
311. 9:49through that don't know what they're
312. 9:50missing, and perhaps it's that
313. 9:51generation of children that we're
314. 9:53looking towards that will change the
315. 9:54culture around social media. But the
316. 9:56other point to make as well is that
317. 9:58there's another reason that you could
318. 9:59sort of another way you could look at
319. 10:00this in terms of whether it's successful
320. 10:01or not, and that would be has it made
321. 10:04social networks and social media
322. 10:05platforms safer? And I think some
323. 10:07critics would say that actually this
324. 10:08probably isn't going to do that because,
325. 10:09of course, if you ban children from
326. 10:11these potentially harmful places, then
327. 10:13that might mean that the social network
328. 10:15is able to wash their hands of it.
329. 10:17>> Joe, thank you very much for answering
330. 10:18those questions, and that's all you need
331. 10:20to know on the UK social media ban.