by Every child in Great Britain under the age of 13 must be excluded from social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and X, said the technology secretary.
In an interview with the Telegraph, Peter Kyle said that he had to pursue the enforcement of the new laws that come into force on Friday on a “100 percent” enforcement of the new laws, and obliges Tech companies to block children under the age of 13 from their platforms.
He said he “expected” the estimated 1.8 million children aged eight to 12 in Great Britain, which are already removed from the locations of social media.
“I can always adequately recognize the circumstances under which online activities under 13, when it comes to social media. In this case, it is correct that the government is determining this baseline from which parents can build appropriate limits for their families,” said Kyle.
“I have not met anyone in these companies, who thinks it is appropriate or enables their own children to use these products under the age of 13. So we should work together to solve this problem.”
“Partnership with the parents”
When asked whether this should be thrown off 60 percent of eight to 12-year-olds with social media accounts, he said: “I would expect it to be removed and that the law is strictly enforced.
“It will be very difficult for children who have access that will now take away. It’s hard, but we are here on the parents’ side.
“Parents tell me repeatedly that as soon as they are switched on [social media]It is a constant struggle between the parent and the child to get it out of their hands, in particular the interruption of the study time, sleep and family time. We are now working with the parents and give you the baseline to get ahead. “
The technology companies were informed that they either have to ensure that their minimum age limits of 13 are properly enforced, or radically revise their websites in order to protect content for the currently tens of thousands of children under age.
The measures are part of the new children’s codes defined by the regulatory authority of COMS, in which companies have to block their access to harmful content, including suicide, self -injury, violence or misogyny, from July 25th.
From Friday, companies that organize porn will be legally obliged to introduce “highly effective” age reviews such as credit cards, photo-ID matching and digital ID services to prevent them from accessing their websites under 18.
The top 10 websites for adults, on which 40 percent of porn pages users make up, have registered for these age reviews together with over 6,000 other websites, including Elon Musk’s X, Grindr and Reddit.
Those who do not carry out age reviews at the age of 13 and 18 will be exposed to fines of up to 10 percent of their global sales or will not be put into operation in Great Britain.
Mr. Kyle said that OFCOM does not have to hesitate to use his strength, including blocking websites, “to send the message that access to the British economy and society is a privilege.
At least half a dozen technology companies, including a suicide forum and a microblogging site, have already withdrawn from geo-blocking users from the British market instead of complying with the online security law.
The changes on Friday will follow the implementation in March harder bans for illegal online content, including sexual abuse of children, terrorism and fraud.
However, OFCOMS new powers are more important for the protection of children from “legal” damage such as suicide and self-harm, which is held responsible for 14-year-old Molly Russell who takes life.
Mr. Kyle said the step was the “greatest change in the experience of young people online since creating the Internet”. It also marks the climax of an eight-year campaign of the telegraph for a legal duty of care towards tech giants to protect children from online damage.
On behalf of the government, he apologized: “My other reflection is the great apology that we are in debt for young people who are over 13 years old and still lived in the online smartphone era.
“They were unprotected by the hideous, harmful and harmful powers that made their way into their feed without reluctance. I and we as society owe them an apology, and I definitely offer them with all sincerity.”
Peter Kyle warned that there would be difficult punishments for technology companies who try to avoid the online security law – Julian Simmonds
Mr. Kyle said the changes would mean that Tech bosses, who can have up to two years in prison due to persistent violations of regulations, live “in fear” and not the children who were previously fed “harmful content”.
“It means that people who occur harmful and criminal content will finally be the people who live in fear because we can and we come to them if they continue to occur,” said Kyle. “I assume that the law is enforced in full of the powers that Parliament has granted.”
He also warned that there would be difficult punishments for technology companies that attempted to bypass the new laws, for example, with virtual private networks (VPNs), in which users can disguise their IDs and handle blocks for content.
“If platforms or websites enroll in relation to problems such as VPNS, this is a crime itself and is tackled by these codes,” said Kyle.
“If a company delivers directly harmful content in the feeds of children, it is the arrival in its feeds what the crime is. If you direct children to this content, it has the same result.”
He confirmed that the government had considered further measures to combat the “addictive” nature of social media by introducing two hours of upper limits for the app period and the output blocks to limit the use before going to bed. It is expected to be unveiled in autumn.
“In the offline world, the parents set borders for nutrition, movement, social networks and sleep time, but we have never had this conversation about the online world. It is time that we did it,” said Kyle.
He added: “It does not tell the parents to educate parents, but offer their parents tools to determine family life that they consider appropriate.”
Mr. Kyle revealed that at every meeting with Tech bosses he presented that there was a camera in the room in which parents like Molly Russell’s father, who had lost their children in online yields, were able to observe him.
“Would you feel how your children had been represented and the experiences of your children? I hope you would do it,” he said.
“Some of these conversations were uncomfortable and ended uncomfortably.”
He said that was the reason why he aimed to remove all harmful content from children’s feed.
“I strive for 100 percent, but I have to be realistic with people,” he said.
“If we take steps forward, where 70, 80 or even more percent of the hideous, hateful and harmful content disappear from children’s feed, this is a victory that I will bring to the bank and progress.
“But these companies have the ability to go online hundreds of millions, if not billions of posts, to go online quickly. Don’t tell me that they do not have the infrastructure that it can also remove.
“This law was one of the longest laws in pregnancy, compared to parliament and its way to implementation than any other. They had time. They saw the direction of travel. Now it is time to act.”
