online safety: UK opposition calls for better online protections for children

Britain, like the European Union and other countries, has been grappling with how to protect social media users, and in particular children, from harmful content without damaging free speech.

On Friday, Reuters reported, Snapchat was kicking dozens of children in Britain off its platform each month, compared with tens of thousands blocked by rival TikTok.

“Parents are crying out for better protections for children online and especially on social media,” said Lucy Powell, Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in a statement issued in response to Reuters’ report.

“The Government has delayed and now watered down the online safety bill, relying almost entirely on age verification technologies which aren’t fool proof, when we know that many children pass themselves off as older online.”

Powell added that the British government needs to strengthen the Bill to “take on the algorithms and business models of platforms which promote harm and fail to protect children.”

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According to the data shared with media regulator Ofcom and seen by Reuters, between April 2021 and April 2022, TikTok blocked an average of around 180,000 suspected underage accounts in Britain every month, or around 2 million in that 12-month period. In the same period, Snapchat told the watchdog it had removed approximately 60 accounts per month, or just over 700 in total.

A Snap spokesperson told Reuters the figures misrepresented the scale of work the company did to keep under-13s off its platform. The spokesperson declined to provide additional context or to detail specific blocking measures the company has taken.

Britain, like the European Union and other countries, has been grappling with how to protect social media users, and in particular children, from harmful content without damaging free speech.

On Friday, Reuters reported, Snapchat was kicking dozens of children in Britain off its platform each month, compared with tens of thousands blocked by rival TikTok.

“Parents are crying out for better protections for children online and especially on social media,” said Lucy Powell, Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in a statement issued in response to Reuters’ report.

“The Government has delayed and now watered down the online safety bill, relying almost entirely on age verification technologies which aren’t fool proof, when we know that many children pass themselves off as older online.”

Powell added that the British government needs to strengthen the Bill to “take on the algorithms and business models of platforms which promote harm and fail to protect children.”

Discover the stories of your interest

According to the data shared with media regulator Ofcom and seen by Reuters, between April 2021 and April 2022, TikTok blocked an average of around 180,000 suspected underage accounts in Britain every month, or around 2 million in that 12-month period. In the same period, Snapchat told the watchdog it had removed approximately 60 accounts per month, or just over 700 in total.

A Snap spokesperson told Reuters the figures misrepresented the scale of work the company did to keep under-13s off its platform. The spokesperson declined to provide additional context or to detail specific blocking measures the company has taken.