Under-16s Social Media Ban

As with basically everyone else with "Technologist" in their job title, I have Opinions™ on the proposed legislation from the UK government to ban under-16s from social media. While the Labour Party have, at time of writing, yet to explain what they mean by "social media", I will concede that a government acknowledging there is a need to protect users from predatory technology is a Good Thing™ however much the proposed "solution" is a Bad Thing™. But, as smarter people than me have pointed out, what harms children also harms the adult users. The "protect children" part should be extended to "protect users" and the burden of responsibility should fall on the companies shipping knowingly harmful products. And, of course, the pithy tag line of giving children their childhoods back doesn't come with investment in youth centres, community spaces, parks, playgrounds, libraries; places children can gather safely for free. I, personally, am in an extremely privileged position where I don't…