UK should act to stop children getting hooked on social media ‘dopamine loops'
Beeban Kidron, a crossbench peer, urged the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, to use the Online Safety Act to bring forward new codes of conduct on disinformation and tech features that can lead to children becoming addicted to online content.
'The secretary of state has a power under the Online Safety Act to bring forward new codes of conduct,' said Kidron. 'We have urgently asked him to do so, but so far we have been rebuffed.'
Kidron added it was not 'nanny state' to prevent companies that invest billions of pounds into making their platforms as addictive as possible from targeting under-18s. 'It is up to ministers to use their powers to detoxify those dopamine loops – they have the power – so why not to do so right now?'
'Dopamine-like' measures identified by 5Rights, a campaign group founded by Kidron, include displaying the amount of times a user's post has been liked or shared, mobile phone notifications and showing content with expiry dates such as Instagram's stories feature.
Kidron spoke to the Guardian before the 25 July deadline for online platforms – including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X and Google – to introduce child safety measures, and for pornography sites to bring in stringent age-checking.
Age-checking measures could also be required for social media sites that allow harmful content, such as X, which is the most popular source of pornography for young people, according to research published by the children's commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza. X announced on Thursday that if it was unable to determine whether a user was 18 or over, they would be defaulted into sensitive content settings and would not be able to view adult material.
Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom's chief executive, said: 'Prioritising clicks and engagement over children's online safety will no longer be tolerated in the UK. Our message to tech firms is clear – comply with age-checks and other protection measures set out in our codes, or face the consequences of enforcement action from Ofcom.'
The changes mean that social media companies must, as a priority, prevent children from seeing pornography and harmful content that encourages suicide, self-harm or eating disorders. They must also suppress the spread of harmful content, such as violent, hateful or abusive material and online bullying.
Companies that breach the act face fines of up to 10% of global turnover which in the case of Instagram's parent company, Meta, would amount to $16.5bn. In extreme cases, sites or apps could be blocked in the UK. Tech executives could also be prosecuted if they ignored Ofcom demands to comply with child safety duties.
Ofcom has outlined a series of measures that comply with the child safety requirements. Those include: sites and apps having procedures for taking down dangerous content quickly; children having a 'straightforward' way to report harmful content; and algorithms, which recommend content to users, filtering out harmful material.
X gave details of its age-checking measures on Thursday, including that if a user has previously indicated that they are under 18 or if the account was created in 2012 or earlier. Bluesky, Discord, Grindr and Reddit have also committed to age-gating measures. Ofcom will assess whether these approaches comply with the act.
Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, says it has a multilayered approach in place that complies to age-checking requirements, including its teenager account feature – a default setting for users under 18 – that it says already provide an 'age appropriate' experience for young users. TikTok, which argues it already prohibits the vast majority of content prohibited to children, is introducing new age-checking measures for certain restricted material from Friday.
Pornography providers such as Pornhub have committed to introducing stringent age checks from Friday. Measures recommended by Ofcom include: facial age estimation, where technology assesses a person's likely age through a live photo or video; checking a person's age via their credit card provider, bank or mobile phone network operator; photo ID matching, where a passport or similar ID is checked against a selfie; or a 'digital identity wallet' that contains proof of age.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
20 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Revolut eyes US expansion amid clash between Chancellor and the Bank of England over its UK licence
Revolut wants to expand in the US amid tensions between the Chancellor and the Bank of England over its plans in the UK. The British fintech firm is reportedly weighing up buying an American lender to allow it to operate in the US as the wait for full authorisation in the UK drags on. Revolut's application for a UK banking licence was approved in 2024 after a three-year delay, but it still faces restrictions on lending. It emerged this week that Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey blocked Rachel Reeves from brokering a meeting with regulators and Revolut to help the company secure a full licence. She had tried to set up talks between the fintech, the Treasury and the Prudential Regulation Authority, which is an arm of the Bank. Bailey had concerns that the Bank's regulatory activities should be independent from political interference, the Financial Times reported. Revolut and the Bank declined to comment. The Treasury has been contacted. The US market would provide access to a large pool of customers and potentially higher deposits.
The Sun
20 minutes ago
- The Sun
MG takes on Tesla for a fraction of price with its new IM range – although some of the features look VERY familiar
I'VE seen a telly in the back of an MG before. At a car boot sale. 7 7 7 Never have I seen an MG with it's own flip-down widescreen TV. Or driven an MG with supercar acceleration and air suspension. Until today. You see MG is going all fancy with a new sub-brand called IM, which stands for Intelligence in Motion. Probably more in keeping with today's world than Morris Garages. The value-packed superminis and SUVs are here to stay — and there's more to come. But MG wants a slice of the lucrative corporate market too. So IM5 is a fully loaded electric saloon (cough, Tesla Model 3) and IM6 is the SUV version (cough, Tesla Model Y). Let's now run through the headlines . . . The fastest versions are comically fast, like 751hp with 802Nm of torques. Like, see-ya-later Lando-fast. Major car brand reveals compact £20k supermini EV will be released in UK in just two years The IM5 Long Range version has an official WLTP range of 441 miles. London to Edinburgh in one go. But it's less powerful at 407 horses. Which is still rapido. Recharging to 80 per cent takes just 17 minutes thanks to the industry-leading 800v battery tech. Like Porsche. And Kia. The cheapest? That's the IM5 Standard Range with a 304-mile battery costing £39,450. Crucially, dipping below £40k will save owners £2k in road tax in the years ahead. Both IM5 and IM6 get four-wheel steering as standard. So they'll outturn an MG4 in town. And they can self-park. Press a button and the boot lowers for the dog to jump in. But that's only on the top-spec SUV with air suspension for now. IM6 is also the first MG with massaging seats. And that optional flip-down TV. From here on out, the cabins are pretty much copy-and-paste. The dash is crowned by a 26in widescreen display and there's a second control panel in the centre console with hard controls for the things we use most. It's quiet in here. It's comfy. It's roomy. There are lots of details which remind me of other brands. But, hey, these are Chinese cars. That's what they do. I've done a checklist of familiar features elsewhere on this page. The bottom line is, MG has done an excellent job providing families with sensibly priced cars backed by a seven-year warranty. It is now a top ten manufacturer. These IM cars take MG into new territory, yet they're still a fair chunk cheaper than a similar-spec Tesla, BYD Seal or Polestar 2. Even with a TV in the back. 7 7 NOW I'M SEEING DOUBLE HERR are ten features on the IM cars which look familiar: Flip-down TV. Like a BMW i7. Just a bit smaller. Watch Netflix or YouTube. Play video games. That car-shaped key's pretty cool. Been in a Porsche recently? Steering wheel controls to adjust the wing mirror. Like a Tesla. Merc-inspired gear selector and 'cheese-grater' speakers in the doors. No door handles. Oh yeah, Fiat 500. They've got a button. Proper deep and soft carpet mats. Like a Rolls-Royce. What, what. Indicate to turn left or right and a blindspot camera pops up on the dash. You can thank Hyundai for that. Autonomous reversing tech, a la BMW. The car remembers the last 100 metres before you pulled up – then retraces it for you. Like pressing rewind on a movie. Widescreen dash. Like, er, everyone else, really. Finally, looks. Tesla vibes at the front and sides. Shades of Aston Martin at the rear with that ducktail spoiler and integrated lightbar. 7 7
Reuters
20 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump shocks markets with scaled-back copper tariff, US prices plunge
July 30 (Reuters) - The United States will impose a 50% tariff on copper pipes and wiring, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, but details of the levy fell short of the sweeping restrictions expected and left out copper input materials such as ores, concentrates and cathodes. The surprise move dragged down U.S. copper prices more than 17% on the Comex exchange and unwound a premium over the London global benchmark that had grown in recent weeks, with shipments diverted there in anticipation of higher domestic prices. "Markets are now busily repricing refined copper much lower after Trump's epic backflip on his own import tariff policy," said Tom Price, an analyst at the London brokerage Panmure Liberum. "Someone must have finally got through to (Trump) that the U.S. economy simply can't afford this new trade-hit." Freeport-McMoRan(FCX.N), opens new tab is likely to be among the most harmed by the trimmed tariff, according to RBC Capital Markets, with Hudbay Minerals ( opens new tab, Arizona Sonoran ( opens new tab and others developing mines in the country also affected. Trump first teased the tariff in early July, implying that it would apply to all types of the red metal, ranging from cathodes produced by mines and smelters to wiring and other finished products. Yet in a proclamation released by the White House, the administration said the tariff will apply starting this Friday only to pipes, tubes and other semi-finished copper products, as well as products that copper is heavily used to manufacture, including cable and electrical components. The move aids manufacturers, but does little to boost the constrained U.S. copper mining industry, which for years has asked Washington for permitting reform or other steps that could fuel growth. "Copper is being imported into the United States in such quantities and under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security of the United States," Trump said in his proclamation. The tariffs will exclude copper scrap and copper concentrates, mattes, cathodes and anodes, some of the main products of copper mines and smelters. The move is essentially a boost for Chile and Peru, two of the world's largest copper miners and major suppliers to the United States. The tariff details sparked a "massive market surprise," said Natalie Scott-Gray, senior metals analyst at the consultancy group StoneX, adding that she expects U.S. copper prices to fall further. Anant Jatia, founder and chief investment officer at Greenland Investment Management, a hedge fund specializing in commodity arbitrage trading, told Reuters he expects London copper prices to surpass U.S. prices in the short term as American inventories build. The measure came after a U.S. investigation under Section 232, which Trump ordered in February. The report was delivered to the White House on June 30 by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to the proclamation. Trump said he may still impose further tariffs, and has asked Lutnick to provide an update on the domestic copper market by June 2026. At that point, Trump will evaluate whether to impose a phased universal import duty on refined copper of 15% starting in 2027, and of 30% starting in 2028, he said. Along with tariffs, the order calls for steps to support the domestic copper industry, including requiring 25% of high-quality scrap produced in the U.S. to also be sold within the country. Freeport, the largest U.S. copper producer, said it would comment after it reviewed Trump's order in detail. Chile's Codelco, the world's biggest copper producer, praised the exclusion of cathodes as a positive for the company and for Chile, which is the top supplier of refined copper to the U.S. BHP ( opens new tab, which operates the world's largest copper mine in Chile, and Antofagasta (ANTO.L), opens new tab, which ships copper from Chile to the U.S. and wants to build a U.S. copper mine, did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
