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children should be banned social media Because they can’t deal with toxic hate speech online, government’s independent reviewer of terrorism Warned.
After Australia Becomes first country to ban social media use by teenagers under 16 Sir Keir Starmer faced growing pressure to act last month amid warnings about the impact it has on young people, particularly those around him mental health issues and radicalization.
Conservative leader Kemmy Badenock said her party would follow Australia’s lead if they win power, while some within Labor – including Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham – have called for government Further regulate the use of social media.
Now the government’s “terror czar” Jonathan Hill has backed calls to ban children from using social media, warning that “the question of how to regulate online space is the most pressing issue of our time”.
“When it comes to hate online, the only conclusion I come to is that kids should go offline because their brains are not equipped to handle this kind of hate,” he said.
However, he added: “But we’re also talking about adults who are also affected by hate.”
The UK’s recent online safety bill reflects research that children’s brains are damaged and altered by exposure to toxic material, hate, self-harming material and pornography.
Despite the bill’s mandatory age verification for adult content, the government has refused to outright ban social media for under-16s, unusually agreeing with Nigel Farage of the UK reform group on the issue.
The Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, which surveyed nearly 280,000 11, 13 and 15-year-olds in 44 countries and territories in Europe, Central Asia and Canada in 2022, found an increase in problematic social media use.
More than one in 10 (11%) of these teens show signs of problematic social media behavior, struggle to control their use and suffer negative consequences.
Addressing issues around regulating cyberspace, Mr Hall claimed ministers and the public at large did not understand how they were dealing with social media platforms such as Elon Musk’s X (Twitter).
Just this week, the government launched a major battle over the artificial intelligence tool Grok on X and the way it was used to create pornographic images of women and children.
Sir Keir and other ministers have stopped using their X accounts over the issue, and the Prime Minister has vowed to take “fast action” against X if he cannot resolve Grok’s problems.
“I think the way the debate is being discussed – with the Prime Minister saying we will ban X – is wrong because so few people understand the limits of what the UK can do. That includes expressing what we can do with X and any acquired features,” Mr Hall said.
Mr Hall delivered a wide-ranging speech on the aftermath of the Islamist attack on Australia’s Bondi Beach, warning that hatred of Jews and Israelis “has become normalized” through protests in the UK and other Western democracies.
He criticized the police for not addressing hate, including calls to “globalize the intifada” or “kill the Israel Defense Forces,” and argued that police “lacked the determination” to use existing laws to address hate.
He warned that the approach to free speech and the right to protest needed to be rethought given the consequences of pro-Palestinian protests against Israel.
Mr Hall also admitted he was concerned about attacks by agents of Iran’s Ayatollah regime targeting British people as an extension of its brutal crackdown on protesters.
But he would not say whether the government should prioritize changing the law to allow it to ban Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
But Mr Hall’s biggest concern is the link between hate speech at marches and terrorist atrocities.
“I do know that this is close to street protest. When you see a person on the street saying something different than an anonymous avatar expressing themselves online, that gives permission.”
He noted that the law clearly describes racism as hatred of someone based on their nationality, but said “hatred of Israelis” has been normalized.
He specifically mentioned the controversy over West Midlands Police banning fans from Maccabi Tel Aviv over fears of armed attacks from Islamic community groups in Birmingham.
He said police chiefs needed to do more to combat hate at protests and mosques.
He said: “I tend to think it’s not the law that’s lacking, but determination. One thing I find a little frustrating about some of the comments from leading police officers is complaining that they don’t have enough laws. I actually think the question is, do they have enough determination?”