Keir Starmer’s Turkey Twizzler moment

Politicians need to pay less attention to opinion polls and more attention to evidence.

This is Keir Starmer’s Turkey Twizzler moment. A whole generation never forgave Jamie Oliver for kicking the Bernard Matthews treat out of schools and this generation of school kids may never forgive Starmer - or Labour - for taking away their Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok.

Surveys of adults show overwhelming support for banning social media for under-16s, but Brits often support bans in opinion polls before changing their minds when the unintended consequences become more obvious. Many of those who support a ban do not even think it will work. A YouGov survey found that 76% of British adults support banning social media for the under-16s, but the same survey found that only 32% think be effective. The British public loves bans so much that they even support them when they know they won’t work. Politicians need to pay less attention to opinion polls and more attention to evidence.

The evidence shows that it won’t work. In Australia, where a similar policy came into effect in December, research found that at least 60% of 12-15 year olds still have at least one account with a banned social media platform. Those who are willing to break the law remain connected with their peers. Those who obey the law risk being isolated. There are so many ways to get around age verification that the UK is unlikely to see a better success rate.

Photo by Berke Citak on Unsplash

There have always been moral panics about how teenagers spend their time - video nasties, Dungeons & Dragons, Mortal Kombat, etc. - but what the government is proposing goes far beyond banning a film or game. A whole mode of communication is under threat. The ban will apply to all platforms ‘whose purpose is to enable social interaction and  which allow users to post material’. This is more like banning the printing press than banning Grand Theft Auto. There are legitimate concerns about smartphone ‘addiction’ and waning attention spans, but there are smarter ways to tackle these problems than by attempting to get teenagers to abandon apps that are almost ubiquitous. Existing platforms have plenty of safeguards for parents to use, but these disappear when children log in as adults or use VPNs to access unregulated websites.

Attempts to ban the printing press failed in the 15th century because they were impractical, illiberal and ultimately undesirable. Deluded politicians still think that they can uninvent the internet, but tech savvy teens will run rings around boomer legislators any day of the week. The social media ban is not going to work, but the kids will never forgive them for trying.