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Today, the UK government has announced that it’s going to ban the use of social media for children under 16. The ban will include Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X, but won’t include messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal.
The UK government will also (somehow) restrict “harmful functions” like live streaming and “stranger communication with children”. These restrictions will apply to a wider range of online services, not just social media – gaming sites are included, for example. These restrictions will apply to those under 17.
AI “romantic companion” chatbots will be banned for those under 18, and “similar intimate functionalities” will be banned on any AI chatbots, including the generalist ones.
The first set of regulations enacting these bans “could be” in effect next spring, but it’s unclear how any of it will work. All we know for now is that the government is mandating Ofcom to “conduct a rapid study on what is effective age assurance for verifying whether someone is over 16”.
The good news is that the government will ensure that Ofcom has the funding it needs to both do this and enforce the bans. Again, the “how” is completely missing, but there’s still plenty of time for that to be ironed out before next year.
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