Will a ban keep the UK’s kids off social media? – podcast

Governments around the world want to keep under-16s off YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Australia has introduced a ban and now the UK is doing the same. Stephen Byrne and Chris Stokel-Walker report

Keir Starmer announced on Monday that he wanted to ban under-16s from social media. Parents were calling out for more controls he said. But their children … well, their children have other ideas.

“Snapchat, for example, is one of the best things that’s happened to me,” a 13-year-old tells Helen Pidd. “ I don’t think adults understand, that is how we talk to our friends and fit in.”

Guardian Australia’s executive producer, Stephen Byrne , says the ban there has had mixed results but many parents are still in favour of it. As a former YouTube star himself he says he understands why children feel they will lose a valuable community if a ban is enacted in the UK. But he says he also thinks something needs to be done to protect children.

The technology reporter Chris Stokel-Walker thinks the ban is ill-advised and a political move. He says the government is not waiting for the evidence of its own study that would have shown what action would best protect children. “I just think it’s a really poorly thought through solution,” he says.