The UK Places a Sweeping Ban on Social Media for Kids Under 16
The UK Places a Sweeping Ban on Social Media for Kids Under 16
英国宣布全面禁止 16 岁以下青少年使用社交媒体
Children under the age of 16 will be banned from social media platforms in the UK, under new measures announced by prime minister Keir Starmer on Monday. “The need for action could not be clearer. Social media is making our children unhappy and unsafe,” Starmer wrote in an X post. “Our children deserve better.” 根据英国首相基尔·斯塔默（Keir Starmer）周一宣布的新措施，16 岁以下的儿童将被禁止使用社交媒体平台。“采取行动的必要性显而易见。社交媒体正在让我们的孩子变得不快乐且不安全，”斯塔默在 X 上发文称，“我们的孩子值得更好的对待。”
Under-16s will lose access to social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, while the minimum age for chatbots that imitate romantic interactions will be raised to 18. The ban does not apply to messaging services WhatsApp and Signal. 16 岁以下青少年将无法访问包括 Facebook、Instagram、X、TikTok、Snapchat 和 YouTube 在内的社交媒体平台，而模仿浪漫互动的聊天机器人的最低使用年龄将提高至 18 岁。该禁令不适用于 WhatsApp 和 Signal 等即时通讯服务。
Under the new measures, expected to come into force in spring 2027, the UK government will also ban livestreaming features and the ability for strangers to contact children under the age of 16 across all platforms. 根据预计于 2027 年春季生效的新措施，英国政府还将禁止所有平台上的直播功能，并禁止陌生人联系 16 岁以下的儿童。
In an effort to restrict late-night doomscrolling, it will also consider introducing an overnight social media curfew for under-18s, with details to follow in July. 为了限制深夜“末日刷屏”（doomscrolling），政府还将考虑为 18 岁以下青少年引入社交媒体夜间宵禁，具体细节将于 7 月公布。
The social media ban is characterized by the UK government as an attempt to shield children from extreme and graphic content and other online harms, such as bullying. “This is a line in the sand,” Starmer added. “Tech giants had their chance and failed, but we’re stepping in to protect children, back parents, and set a new normal for future generations.” 英国政府将此次社交媒体禁令描述为保护儿童免受极端、暴力内容及欺凌等网络伤害的尝试。“这是一条底线，”斯塔默补充道，“科技巨头们曾有机会却失败了，现在我们介入是为了保护孩子、支持家长，并为后代树立一种新的常态。”
Meta, X, and TikTok did not respond immediately to requests for comment. YouTube spokesperson Jay Stoll said, “YouTube is a vital resource for young people, educators, and parents. Blanket bans push kids out of such curated, supervised, beneficial experiences and toward anonymous, less safe services.” Meta、X 和 TikTok 未立即回应置评请求。YouTube 发言人杰伊·斯托尔（Jay Stoll）表示：“YouTube 是年轻人、教育工作者和家长的宝贵资源。一刀切的禁令会将孩子们从这种经过策划、监管且有益的体验中推向匿名且安全性更低的服务。”
“Because the majority of time spent on Snapchat is in private messaging between friends and family, an outright ban that disconnects teens from those relationships doesn’t make them safer—it may simply push them to less safe platforms,” says Frederika Cook, public policy at Snap. Snap 公共政策部门的弗雷德里卡·库克（Frederika Cook）表示：“由于 Snapchat 的大部分使用时间是在朋友和家人之间的私密聊天，这种切断青少年与这些关系联系的全面禁令并不会让他们更安全——它可能只会把他们推向更不安全的平台。”
Though British politicians have considered restricting teenagers’ use of social media for a number of years, the idea has gained in popularity since the Australian government imposed a similar ban—the first of its kind—last November. The issue has become surprisingly prominent in recent elections at all levels, multiple members of Parliament tell WIRED, and opposition parties have come out in support of a ban. 尽管英国政界多年来一直考虑限制青少年使用社交媒体，但自去年 11 月澳大利亚政府实施类似禁令（此类禁令的首例）以来，这一想法获得了更多支持。多位议员告诉《连线》（WIRED）杂志，该议题在近期的各级选举中变得异常突出，反对党也已公开表示支持该禁令。
The UK ban follows a public consultation process that ran from March to May, attracting more than 100,000 submissions from parents, academics, lobbyists, government bodies, and the like. The government announced the new measures before releasing its full findings from the consultation, which it has promised to make public by the end of the summer. 英国的禁令是在 3 月至 5 月进行的公众咨询过程后出台的，该过程吸引了来自家长、学者、游说团体、政府机构等超过 10 万份意见书。政府在发布咨询的完整调查结果之前就宣布了新措施，并承诺在夏末前公布这些结果。
A former special adviser to Starmer’s Labour government, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss internal party matters, says they believe that Starmer rushed through the ban in a bid to shore up parliamentary support, anticipating a challenge to his leadership. “The issue is a significant one for voters, and high-pressure by-elections [the equivalent of a special election in the US] and threats of a leadership challenge have forced Downing Street to move,” they say. 一位要求匿名讨论党内事务的斯塔默工党政府前特别顾问表示，他们认为斯塔默急于推行该禁令是为了巩固议会支持，以应对对其领导地位的挑战。“这对选民来说是一个重大议题，高压的补选以及领导权挑战的威胁迫使唐宁街采取行动，”他们说。
A preliminary research briefing published by the government suggests that the consultation respondents were broadly divided into three camps: those who supported total ban on social media for under 16s, those who supported a ban on particular features, and those who objected to any form of restriction. 政府发布的一份初步研究简报显示，咨询受访者大致分为三个阵营：支持全面禁止 16 岁以下青少年使用社交媒体的人、支持禁止特定功能的人，以及反对任何形式限制的人。
More than 90 percent of parents that responded to the consultation support an outright ban. One of the most vocal advocates was Esther Ghey, mother of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey, murdered by two fellow schoolchildren in 2023. In her submission, Ghey said that her daughter’s mental health struggles were “significantly exacerbated by the harmful content she was consuming online.” 超过 90% 的受访家长支持全面禁令。最直言不讳的倡导者之一是埃丝特·盖伊（Esther Ghey），她是跨性别青少年布里安娜·盖伊（Brianna Ghey）的母亲，布里安娜于 2023 年被两名同学谋杀。盖伊在意见书中表示，她女儿的心理健康问题“因她在网上接触到的有害内容而显著恶化”。
Those who called for a curb on allegedly high-risk features, rather than outright prohibition, characterize a ban as too blunt an instrument. “Something has to change, absolutely,” says Rowan Ferguson, policy manager at the Molly Rose Foundation, a suicide-prevention charity. “But what we’re really concerned about with the ban is that the government chooses to rush into solutions that the evidence just doesn’t support rather than addressing the causes of harm.” Ferguson and others have argued that the root of the problem is the addictive design of these products, which the ban does not address. 那些呼吁限制所谓高风险功能而非全面禁止的人认为，禁令是一种过于粗暴的手段。“绝对必须做出改变，”自杀预防慈善机构 Molly Rose Foundation 的政策经理罗文·弗格森（Rowan Ferguson）说，“但我们真正担心的是，政府选择匆忙采取证据并不支持的解决方案，而不是解决伤害的根源。”弗格森等人认为，问题的根源在于这些产品令人上瘾的设计，而禁令并未解决这一问题。
“It’s very comforting, isn’t it? We’ve got this policy; it’ll nip it in the bud,” says Emily Setty, associate professor of criminology at the University of Surrey, whose research focuses on online sexual behaviors among young people. “My fear is that this ban will be performative—and everything else will remain the same.” “这让人感到很欣慰，不是吗？我们有了这项政策，它能防患于未然，”萨里大学犯罪学副教授艾米丽·塞蒂（Emily Setty）说，她的研究重点是年轻人的网络性行为，“我担心的是，这项禁令将流于形式，而其他一切仍将保持原样。”
The UK government press office did not respond immediately to a request for comment. 英国政府新闻办公室未立即回应置评请求。
That seems to have been largely the case in Australia, now almost seven months into its own ban. A recent study by Australia’s online safety regulator eSafety found that 70 percent of under-16s in the country continue to access banned social media platforms. In March, the regulator said it was investigating Snap, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for potential noncompliance. Teenagers are reportedly bypassing restrictions using virtual private networks to conceal their location or by supplying false credentials. 在澳大利亚，禁令实施近七个月以来，情况似乎大抵如此。澳大利亚在线安全监管机构 eSafety 最近的一项研究发现，该国 70% 的 16 岁以下青少年仍在访问被禁的社交媒体平台。3 月份，该监管机构表示正在调查 Snap、TikTok、Facebook、Instagram 和 YouTube 是否存在违规行为。据报道，青少年正在通过使用虚拟专用网络（VPN）隐藏位置或提供虚假凭证来绕过限制。
Responding to the ban imposed by Australia in November, Meta accused the government of “failing to properly consider the evidence,” while X CEO Elon Musk said the policy “seems like a backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians.” In December, Reddit sued the Australian government in a bid to overturn the policy. 针对澳大利亚 11 月实施的禁令，Meta 指责政府“未能充分考虑证据”，而 X 首席执行官埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）则表示，该政策“看起来像是控制所有澳大利亚人访问互联网的后门”。去年 12 月，Reddit 起诉澳大利亚政府，试图推翻该政策。
Recently, social media companies have peppered the inboxes of British members of Parliament to dispute proposed policy wording that would dictate whether they were caught in any UK ban, according to a lobbyist for a tech group, who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive topics. 据一位要求匿名讨论敏感话题的科技团体游说者称，最近，社交媒体公司不断向英国议员发送邮件，对拟议的政策措辞提出异议，这些措辞将决定它们是否会被纳入英国的任何禁令范围。