The “shambles” of the government’s plan on social media will not be fixed by banning children from accessing the platforms, Harriet Harman has said.
Speaking to Sky News political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the Labour peer cast doubt upon whether a ban on under-16s using social media – as supported by the House of Lords – is workable.
The proposals passed by the Lords still need to be agreed by MPs before they become law. The government wants to hold a consultation before committing to a ban.
Harman pointed to existing legislation like the Online Harms Bill, Crime and Policing Bill, Data Use and Access Bill, before even considering the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill under which peers and some MPs want a social media ban to be legislated.
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“It’s kind of a shambles, it’s not coherent,” Harman said.
“I really think what we need is a committee in the House of Commons of MPs.”
Without sorting out a “process”, Harman said the government risked leaping on a ban only to “discover the ban doesn’t work” and have to try something else, “which is tougher regulation of social media companies”.
“Meanwhile, people will think we’ve got this problem and the government is being ineffective, they’re not acting appropriately. And that’s because the process just does not fit the problem that we’ve got today,” she said.
‘Cliff edge’ warning
Another issue raised by Harman was a potential “cliff edge” for children when they turn 16.
“You haven’t had any sort of education through experience of how to use social media, and you’re suddenly exposed to the big wide world with a cliff edge,” she warned.
“[Another issue] is that for a lot of kids, social media can combat isolation and can help them find their community if they’ve got a particular problem, and therefore it can have a beneficial effect of linking kids up together.”
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In the House of Lords debate about the ban this week, both these points were raised by some peers.
Lord Nash, the Conservative peer who proposed the ban, argued against the idea of “cliff edge”, saying instead the proposal “seeks merely to give teenagers a few more years to mature so that they can deal more effectively with social media, distinguish fact from fiction and exercise better judgement”.
And on access to like-minded communities, he said: “The police who specialise in child sexual abuse material and radicalisation say that it is precisely the help forums for groups such as LGBTQ+, those with eating disorders, those with ADHD, etc, where the worst abusers hang out and target children.”
