How much of what you see on social media comes from sources that repeatedly post falsehoods? And if that content quietly vanished from your feed, would you believe anything different months later? Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Category: Social Media (Page 1 of 49)
As the UK prepares to introduce an “Australia plus” ban on social media for under 16s, many lessons can be learned from Australia’s experiment. Many people may think Australia’s ban is a success, with nearly 5 million social media accounts deactivated, removed or restricted. But the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Continue reading
Recent international developments, particularly Australia’s move to ban under‑16s from social media, have reignited debate in the UK about how best to protect young people online. As a result, pressure has been mounting on the UK Government to go further than the measures already set out in the Online Safety Act 2023, most notably the banning of under-16s from social media. Continue reading
Taylor Little became so badly addicted to her smartphone that she felt she had lost many of her teenage years. “I was literally trapped by addiction at age 12 and lost my teenage years because of it,” she said. Her addiction was to social media, which led to suicide attempts and prolonged depression. Continue reading
The UK government has launched a consultation on introducing an Australian-style ban on social media for under-16s. The proposal is framed as a bold response to rising concerns about young people’s mental health, online abuse and exposure to harmful content. Continue reading
Reddit is asking Australia’s High Court to rule that it’s not a social media platform and therefore should not have to comply with the under-16s social media account ban. Continue reading
Canadian politicians have increasingly taken to social media to campaign as well as communicate with constituents, sharing updates on policies, local events, emergencies or government initiatives. But stories have emerged of constituents being blocked by their representatives. Should Canadian politicians be free to block their own constituents? Continue reading
What the matters discussed in Part One of this post demonstrate above all is the complexity and difficulty of critiquing the OSA as a threat to perfectly legitimate forms of expression when such significant parts of the mainstream media, namely the Telegraph, Times, Sun, Express, Mail and GB News, along with pressure groups such as the Free Speech Union and powerful right-wing ‘think tanks’ (in actual fact, ‘free market’ lobbyists) such as the Adam Smith Institute and Policy Exchange have, in pursuit of their own political and ideological ends, repeatedly set it up as a straw man and attacked it from the perspective of what has come to be known as free speech fundamentalism. Continue reading
In a recent article for the journal Porn Studies I raised doubts about whether children and young people watching porn online is apparently so harmful to them that the restrictive measures proposed by the Online Safety Act (OSA) are necessary, proportionate and compatible with the UK’s various human rights obligations. I also posed the question of whether these measures, and particularly the requirements for age-verification, are actually workable. Continue reading
Several pieces of legislation across the world are coming into effect this year to tackle harms experienced online, such as the UK’s Online Safety Act and Australia’s Online Safety Act. There are also new standards, regulations, acts and laws related to digital products (including smart devices such as voice assistants, virtual headsets) and services such as social media platforms. Continue reading
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