UK to ban Social Media for under 16s .. will we/EU follow suit? Is it enough?

kowloon · 20-06-2026 12:31AM

If a person could prove they're an adult to an authority which issues one-time codes which can't be traced backwards to reveal the identity of said adult, people could remain anonymous. But we know that won't happen.

Enter Username Here · 22-06-2026 01:23PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124565145#Comment_124565145

Estonia and Japan both have decentralised ID's. I am pretty sure that Estonias is compulsory though (I am not definite) and Japans is not.

Estonia have an almost 100% adoption rate, and has had security issues through faults that could have been avoided. The ROCA vulnerability was the most famous. One of the other problems was also that it allowed people to fake being somebody else. Their cards are are around 22 years now, and they still have issues despite being decentralised.

The Japanese card allows for pairing with a lot more technology and I think, is just a number that is tied to all of your information. My (possibly wrong) understanding of it is, that you go into a building similar to something like a passport office and they take all of your data and produce an 11 or 12 digit number that corresponds to that information on their decentralised servers. You can then use that card with the number for many things… BUT… they have had issues too including linking to the wrong people with entire information leaking.

I am not against digital ID in principle, but it is imperative that it is done properly and is (especially in this day and age) 100% private.

I don't trust our incompetent governments (not this one, nor the next one) to be able to do that. I don't trust the EU commission either, especially in light of so many allegations or accusations of corruption and or listening to US big tech in recent times.

Benedict XVI · 26-06-2026 09:35AM

After 6 months there are reports that the Australian restrictions are having little impact.

So the government are going to crackdown and increase enforcement.

Sounds a bit like "the beatings will continue until morale improves".

But it will never work.

https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2026/0626/1580413-australia-social-media/

Cyclingtourist · 26-06-2026 09:56AM

The UK announcement was a desperate publicity stunt by Starmer to appear relevant. He organised it to have a roomful of ban-campaigners who'd sing his praises for ten minutes.

Now that he's a caretaker PM I expect the idea will be quietly sidelined before being dropped completely.

In Australia where it was first introduced they're already finding that it's ineffective.

"Australia in December banned under 16s from the likes of Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, in a crackdown designed to protect children from online bullying and "predatory algorithms".
But there is little evidence to suggest teenagers have turned away from social media as a consequence, a team of Australia-based researchers found in a peer-reviewed study published by the British Medical Journal.
Underage users have been dodging the restrictions by using accounts registered to older people, setting up fake accounts, or by logging into private browsers.
"We found insufficient evidence to conclude that exposure to the Act had any early substantial effects on social media use among adolescents aged under 16," the researchers wrote."

Australia teen social media ban has little impact - study

Ozymandius2011 · 30-06-2026 11:39AM

There does need to be regulation because the internet for many years was the Wild West.

A poll shows that 80% of parents of children aged 16 or younger support a social media ban.

There have been a number of cases of suicides related to cyberbullying in the courts internationally.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2026/06/18/most-irish-adults-favour-social-media-ban-for-under-16s-poll-says/

UK to ban Social Media for under 16s .. will we/EU follow suit? Is it enough?

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