Will a ban keep the UK’s kids off social media? – podcast

Keir Starmer announced on Monday that he wanted to ban under-16s from social media. Parents were calling out for more controls he said. But their children … well, their children have other ideas. “Snapchat, for example, is one of the best things that’s happened to me,” a 13-year-old tells Helen Pidd. “ I don’t think adults understand, that is how we talk to our friends and fit in.” Guardian Australia’s executive producer, Stephen Byrne , says the ban there has had mixed results but many parents are still in favour of it. As a former YouTube star himself he says he understands why children feel they will lose a valuable community if a ban is enacted in the UK. But he says he also thinks something needs to be done to protect children. The technology reporter Chris Stokel-Walker thinks the ban is ill-advised and a political move. He says the government is not waiting for the evidence of its own study that would have shown what action would best protect children. “I just think it’s a really poorly thought through solution,” he says. Photograph: Anna Barclay/Getty Images