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I worry how social media companies/internet providers can do this practically, how can they verify users ages, i cant see a way of doing this (even if the logon required National Insurance number , surely that could be shared like a fake ID) since most browsing is done in private.

Every medium since the written word has been used as a scapegoat for "distracting kids from being kids". It's nonsense to suggest that social media are any different. Apart from anything else, this is the world we live in now, trying to prevent kids from accessing it may be even more harmful.

Good luck, implementing a ban on the most intuitively tech-savvy section of the population...and their parents.

This is a definite for me!

A ban is a sticking plaster. There needs to be a whole piece about providing support and education to parents about helping kids to manage being online, and resources put in to allow kids to roam free and safely about town, without being criminalised. Otherwise kids will just be on YouTube

A much needed conversation and @lewisgoodall.com is really leading it well. We need governments to act & get social media companies to monitor content online. It should be the same rules as for TV and papers. Kids need to taught to use the internet safely and effectively and be supervised.

See every technology before- from books, to television, videos and then computer games. Growing up has never been easy, but technologies provide a ready scapegoat.

How does Australia deal with parents who wrongly confirm children's age on social media? I was contacted by a 9-yr-old girl when the age limit was over 13s only. Father had confirmed.

Agree - really distressing content easily accessible for any age and when it’s hard to work out what’s going and what to make of it …

Rupert will love it. Australia’s PM has praised News Corp’s “Let Them Be Kids” campaign for drawing attention to this issue. This could mean mandatory age verification for all social media users. A misguided policy, widely seen as yet another Albo blunder. Be afraid… be very afraid.

Talked about this to The Independent - 10 years ago now, it was a different age back then. But I still stand by what I said at the time. TL:DR it's all about balance and setting principles to live by: www.independent.co.uk/tech/parenti...

Should we be handing our laptops to our children?Do you let your young offspring find their online feet with a tablet - or should they be learning creative and life skills away from screens? Here, a mother and father explain their different approach...www.independent.co.uk

So blindingly obvious. Yes of course there should be such a ban. The link comparison of smoking to cancer and commercial social media to violated childhoods is frighteningly correct and its lack of governance. But what makes money makes politicians blind to doing the right things.

Far more damage has been done to the kids future prospects by their parents and grandparents having access to Social Media.

Had an Australian family visit at Xmas. 3 teenage kids, a teacher and a GP. The kids really weren't bothered. The teacher was relieved, the GP also as he "had to treat the damage" in his patients. This fightback needs to happen.

I agree with it. Though I'm not sure how you'd enforce it.

It should be called anti-social media. There’s nothing more annoying than being with a group of people ignoring each other in the real world while interacting with a virtual one!

I am glad it wasn't around when I was growing up! I would have few problems with banning social media from under 16s

Kids will find a way around it, and then what about online gaming as well? A ban doesn’t address the problem - make social media companies take responsibility for content posted and teach kids critical thinking and how to navigate it, tech and social media isn’t going away

Yes But difficult to give the vote at 16 in this context.

In theory, I agree; but I think it would be almost impossible to enforce. The only realistic way of this working that I can see would be some form of ID check, but even that is imperfect - not least because it would be hard to trust companies to handle this sensitive information correctly.

You won't be able to stop it regardless. I am in favour of allowing. I have taught my kids what to look out for, not to engage with people they don't know in real life. It has been fantastic for my daughters dance school and my sons football team. (1)

I am all for that but children are often better at IT than adults. It’s difficult to control on Computers. I have tried deleting it?

good luck enforcing it. It is similar to when WhatsApp had an age limit of 16, and everyone just lied about the age of their kids. War on drugs...fail. War on social media for under 16's....fail. Don't forget that kids are more tech-savvy than their parents.

I believe in it wholeheartedly. I’m 36 and find some social media content hard to stomach. Cannot imagine the damage it does to children’s minds.

I would love to see the plan for putting it into practice. It will be a bloodbath.

I agree. I would go further and say no smart phones as well

A few thoughts. Before banning undertake the following 1. Must be a local company not offshore. Pay tax 2. content rules and license like a tv channel. 3. rules for children content and access. Review in 12 months before banning. 4. Annual review loss of license to operate is the penalty

I don't think you can ban it completely but some regulation would help. Social media on the whole needs more regulation. Banning it completely seems too far.

As long as it's banned for all over 16s, too.

Mixed feelings. On one hand, I didn't have the tools to differentiate between radical or fake content as a teen and am grateful social media didn't exist then On the other, I've made some fabulous social connections that I wouldn't have otherwise...

I’m torn to be honest. There is much good that can be found in access to the web and social media at that age, but there are also significant negatives. My preferred choice is to enforce social media companies to remove problematic content…. …but I fear the events of the past 2 weeks prevent that

Genie. Bottle.

I don't see how it's technically possible to actually do it. There's so many different ways to get around it, which, if anything, makes any measures to deal with the issues, even harder.

It seems to me like a cop-out because they don't want to/can't go after the people who are actually responsible for the content. I will also be astonished if it works.

I think it would perhaps be better to educate kids, from a very young age, about how algorithms work and how what they see is manipulated. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with social media in its purest sense but too few understand how it works. Education is all

Musk, Zuckerberg et al can keep their shit out of our kids bedrooms.

It’s nuanced, study illustrates that a ban is not a magic bullet. Yes to reducing time spent and yes to better in school culture and choices for kids especially around social connection.

It’s quite often a distraction from being an adult tbh.

I'm in agreement. There will have to be difficult choices made to enforce it, however, overall the younger generation will benefit from regaining childhood freedoms.

Pretty sure an actual ban would be unenforceable? Kids are rather resourceful when they want to be. And not allowing smart phones would be ridiculous in a world that relies so much on digital access to everything.

Easier said than done. If they have to give credit card details or some such then many adults would stop bothering for fear of having that info in the public domain which would cause backlash or some kind. If they don't do that then the kids can just lie.

Parents have it hard because if you ban your child from social media it removes him from his own friend network. A government ban would remove the network itself and make the whole thing easier for parents to manage. So yes, ban under 16's from social media.

Surely letting them use it and teaching better usage, understanding and how to manage it in your life is better? We have the opportunity to teach them and instead we just kick the can down the road as if at 16 they'll engage with it I'm a totally calm and respectful manner

AGREE!

It is a tricky one. This “ban” comes late in the day - children of all ages are now used to some sort of social media. In my day with there were dire warnings about all the “dreadful” T.V programs we were being exposed to - we survived.

I can't see how it would be possible to police it. Isn't it better to set stringent rules for all social media to follow?

One thought, apart from anything on the principle of it. HOW?

As a parent of two teenage girls, I would support a total ban on social media for under 16s. I might even raise that age.

It's crazy that children have 24 hour access to hardcore porn and execution videos.

I like the idea, but just don't see how it can be policed

I think there needs to be a balance as we know as soon as we ban things it potentially goes underground yet also agree Teaching critical thinking in schools is a must My child now a young adult was taught it at of course age appropriate language from age 7 it sticks

I want to disagree, but I can’t, some of the content that’s pushed on social media is f**king horrific!

I think social media should be better regulated for everyone. As long as there are algorithms that are pushing content at people, the company running the algorithm should follow the same rules any publisher does.

Re introduce the phones from the 90’s. “Dumb” phones, rather than smart phones for our under 16’s, They cannot access the internet, but can text and call. A good compromise ??

All this is all very well, but try taking something you have already introduced and away from children and suddenly they are all going to revert back 1970s childhood is naive in the extreme. Ban from schools etc yes. No one should be using phones in school, but otherwise? Good luck.

How is it going in Australia since the ban?

I think it's a bit too much stick, and no carrot. What do kids *do*? Outside is too dangerous as the number of cars has multiplied as well as getting bigger, playing fields sold, youth centres closed, public protection orders deployed in town centres... All they have left is social networks!

I think it should be banned - but how would it be policed?

16 is way too high of a bar. It would be infantilizing people who should be learning how to adult.

No, just teach sensible use of it. How are LGBT kids or disabled kids, for example, going to meet people like themselves without it?

Meta and Musk owned social media should be straight up banned in the UK regardless. They're a clear threat to people's lives. By design they've aided the spread of fringe hateful ideologies and terror groups across the world. Future humans will be shocked this wasn't obvious at the time.

Social media shouldn’t exist at all imo. Dont just ban it for kids, its ruining adult minds as well. We’re all getting cooked by it.

I feel this is closing that stable door too late. As parents of a 15 yr old and 10 yr old, we’ve taken the view that educating and supervising them is the only path forward. If we take it away wholesale, all we’re doing is incentivising the illicit nature of it. Better to have some influence.