Addictive

Prime minister says UK must do more to regulate against potential harms after landmark ruling in US courtSir Keir Starmer has said he will tackle “addictive features” in social media amid increasing signs the UK government is preparing to crackdown on risks to children after a landmark US court verdict which held Meta and YouTube responsible for harms caused by designing addictive technology.The prime minister said the verdict in a California court signals a rising public expectation for more aggressive regulation and said: “I’m absolutely clear that we need to go further.” Continue reading...

The government has launched a consultation on banning social media for under-16s but peers voted to move fasterHouse of Lords pushes for Australian-style social media ban for under-16sGood morning. It is going to be a busy political news day, but potentially quite a mixed and messy one. Keir Starmer is in Helsinki for a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (the northern European military pact – the Nordics, the Baltics, the Dutch and the UK), and he has already been speaking to the media. In the Commons it is the last day before the Easter recess, which means it is “take out the trash day” – the trash, in this case, being government announcements that have to be reported to parliament (so they can’t be announced during the recesss), but which have been held back because they’re moderately embarrassing (or sometimes just too dull). There are 24 written ministerial statements (full list here). Few, if any, of these are likely to produce big headline stories, but there should be a lot here for people interested in the workings of government.And, with the parliamentary session also about to end soon (the new king’s speech is expected to take place on Wednesday 13 May), the government is also trying to get all its bills onto the statue book. And it faced a new problem last night after peers voted for a second time to insert a clause into the bill committing the government to an Australian-style social media ban for under-16s.Obviously we’ll study that ruling very carefully, but I’m absolutely clear that we need to go further.The status quo isn’t good enough. We need to do more to protect children. Continue reading...