A wide range of suggested proposals will be examined by the government, including whether a social media ban for minors would be effective, and how best to make it work, according to the government’s statement on Monday.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
The UK government announced in a statement that UK ministers will travel to Australia, which last month became the first nation in the world to forbid social media use by young people under the age of 16 in order to gain firsthand from the Australian approach.
The government said that the consultation will consider options like extending the digital age of consent, putting in phone curfews to prevent excessive use, and restricting potentially addictive design features like “strikes” and “infinite scrolling.”
The UK’s announcement comes as governments and regulators around the world wrestle with the rapid rise in AI-generated content, which was highlighted this month by reports that Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot produced child-friendly images, including those of children.
In a statement released on Monday, the UK stated that it had already made plans for an absolute ban on artificial intelligence nudification tools and that it was working to stop children from downloading, sharing, or viewing nude images on their devices.
According to UK Secretary of State for Technology, “We are determined to ensure that technology enriches children’s lives rather than harming them,” Liz Kendall, “we are determined to ensure that every child receives the education they deserve.”
The UK’s announcement did not mention a specific age for social media use, but it did state that it was considering a ban on using the site for children under a certain age in addition to other measures, such as better age checks and checking whether the 13-year-old digital consent age was excessive.
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, has already stated that if it were in power, it would impose a social media ban on under-16s, according to the UK’s PA Media news agency.
After earlier claiming that the Labour-led government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer lacked the “backbone” to impose a social media ban, Badenoch, PA reported, said the planned consultation by his leadership amounted to more delay.
According to Badenoch, the prime minister is still trying to imitate an announcement the Conservatives made a week ago but is still not getting it right.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply