The British government’s proposed curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds has faced criticism for its perceived ineffectiveness and ease of circumvention.
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❓ WHAT HAPPENED: Outgoing British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is set to announce a midnight social media curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds.
📰 DETAIL: Prime Minister Starmer intends to declare a midnight social media curfew aimed at 16- and 17-year-olds. The curfew will constitute one of Prime Minister Starmer’s final acts in office before he is replaced by Labour Member of Parliament for Makerfield Andy Burnham, who has secured enough support from the Parliamentary Labour Party to become Prime Minister and Labour leader uncontested. The upcoming curfew will be “on by default” but can be turned off by users, leading to criticism of its effectiveness. The government is expected to unveil a package of measures to regulate social media access on Wednesday. The measures aim to address addictive features such as infinite scrolling. The decision follows the release of a government study which concluded that a midnight social media curfew would be “the most straightforward intervention to implement and integrate into existing household routines.”
🎯 IMPACT: The fact that the curfew can simply be turned off has seen critics dismiss it as “completely useless” and “ludicrous.” The curfew has also been widely criticized as being inconsistent with other policies of the Starmer government, which lowered the voting age to 16 last year. Despite running in the Makerfield by-election on a pledge to change the Labour Party, Burnham supports digital ID and the social media ban, which may constitute outgoing Prime Minister Starmer’s most significant policy while in office.
📺 FLASHBACK: Last month, the British Government announced a ban on social media access for children under 16. Critically, the ban requires adults to upload ID to use social media to prove that they are aged 16 or over, ending online privacy. The European Union (EU) is seeking to announce a similar measure later in the year. The government pushed forward with digital ID despite significant opposition from the public and civil liberties organizations.
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Image by Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street.
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