Starmer struggled through his opening remarks on child safety at a Downing Street meeting of social media executives this morning. What was it like when the cameras stopped rolling…
This is what Starmer had to say:
“But things can’t go on like this. They must change. Because right now social media is putting our children at risk. And in a world in which children are protected, even if that means access is restricted, that is preferable to a world where harm is the price of participation. So in everything we do, we need to put children first. Their safety and their protection are paramount. And I’m determined we’ll build a better future for our children. And I look forward to working with you on this. I do think this can be done. I think the question now is not whether it’s done.”
Representatives from Meta, Snapchat, Google (YouTube), TikTok, and X were summoned to the meeting for Starmer to rant at them. An embargoed release from No10 confirmed that the meeting had no substantive purpose apart from for Starmer to tick off the companies…
“During today’s meeting, the Prime Minister and Technology Secretary will set out the government’s principles and values when it comes to protecting children, and press for answers from companies on what they are doing to keep children safe online and responding to families’ concerns.”
They look thrilled to be there…
The Cabinet Office has finally admitted that they have spent more than £365,000 on social media influencers. The department has consistently refused to answer FOIs and written questions on the matter…
In a written response to Tory MP Mike Wood, Paymaster General Nick Thomas-Symonds said:
“Spend on influencer costs (exclusive of agency fees) since July 2024 to the date of this PQ is £365,331. This figure is reflective of currency conversion rates at the time of the request.”
That is the total spend since July 2024 via advertising and communications firms OmniGov and Pablo Unlimited. No doubt that figure will only continue to go up. Nick helpfully adds that “some data has been withheld due to commercial and wider sensitivities”. Meanwhile Starmer’s ‘New Media Unit’ has an eye-watering £13.2 million budget to propagandise the activity of the government. Might take a little more than a few TikToks to save Starmer…
The National Education Union – run by socialist Daniel Kebede – is now campaigning for a ban on social media for children under the age of 16. Pointless…
Kebede says in the Guardian that the UK should follow Denmark:
“Children in the UK should be offered the same protection from voracious social media companies that the Danish government has committed to providing (Denmark plans social media ban for under-15s as PM warns phones ‘stealing childhood’, 7 October) so that we can put a stop to the immense damage they are wreaking.
The crisis they have created is why we launched our campaign calling for exactly that, and we are not alone in wanting action – 70% of the UK public believe that social media companies are robbing children and young people of their childhoods, and want to see the digital age of consent raised from 13 to 16.”
In Denmark 94% of children already violate the 13-year-old ‘digital age of consent.’ The policy would introduce more pointless bureaucracy…
Funnily enough the NEU will find itself at odds with the Labour government which is planning to shove phones into children’s hands so it can force them to possess a Digital ID. No doubt Labour will try doing both and make an even worse hash of it…
Inevitably discourse around TV series Adolescence has now come to its “start banning things” stage. The government has been struggling to keep up with all of the new ‘action‘ it can now take since the show identified the main threat to the UK as the most deprived demographic in the UK: white working class boys. As ever it usually takes a few days for the real agenda to be unveiled by the artists/activists and the media which boosts them…
The media has promoted the drama’s political lessons for days now as Starmer says it has shown there is a need to tackle an “emerging and growing problem” and its creator Jack Thorne said “I want it to be shown in schools, I want it to be shown in Parliament. It’s crucial because this is only going to get worse.”
Now Thorne presents his solution: banning social media for kids and banning phones in school:
“We do believe perhaps the answer to this is in parliament and legislating – and taking kids away from their phones in school and taking kids away from social media altogether.”
That is being widely-reprinted. Next, cue a barrage of comment pieces, a new campaign from backbench MPs, and eventual move towards legislation. The public imagination to new regulation pipeline still in full effect…
Lord Khan in the Telegraph: “I hope, and I say this in a non-pompous way, that the public service I do will bring rewards in this world and the hereafter,” he says. “I’m hoping the work I do is earning me Brownie points.”