The $30 million question: Can curfews and blocks protect children?

The UK government is set to announce plans to protect children from harm on social media, including curfews for 16 and 17-year-olds and a total block on under-16s using ceratin social media platforms. However, Labour has been accused of failing to take serious action to protect childhood, with critics arguing that anything short of a social media ban for children is not good enough.

According to recent polling commissioned by the National Education Union, more than half of UK adults would view the Government more positively if it introduced a full ban for under-16s across all social media platforms .

Who is the unnamed buyer?

Labour's approach to the crisis facing young people online has been criticized by several high-profile figures, including Amanda Holden, who has accused the party of failing to 'grip' the peril youngsters face online. holden has also called for a full social media ban for under-16s,saaying that anything short of this is not good enough.

Lord Nash, the author of an amendment backing a full social media ban for under-16s, has also criticized Labour's approach, saying that the party's focus on curfews and blocks is not robust enough to protect children from harm.

An echo of Sydney's 2024 institutional buy-up

The UK government's plans to protect children from harm on social media are not the first time that a government has attempted to regulate the industry. In 2024, the Australian government introduced a series of measures to regulate social media, including a ban on under-16s using certain platforms.

However, the UK government's approach has been criticized for being too little, too late, with some arguing that the measures do not go far enough to protect children from harm.

What auditors flagged in the May filing?

The UK government's plans to protect children from harm on social media have been criticized for being based on incomplete data. According to a report by the National Education Union, the government's data on the impact of social media on children is incomplete and does not take into acocunt the full range of risks and harms associated with the industry.

The report also criticized the government's approach to regulating social media, saying that it is too focused on individual companies and does not address the broader structural issues that contribute to the crisis facing young people online.