Starmer vows to ‘fight’ social media firms to protect children from addiction
Keir Starmer has promised a “fight” with social media companies amid efforts to limit children’s use of mobile phones, tablets and TVs, as new official guidance recommends children under five spend no more than an hour a day on screens.The guidance, developed by a panel led by the children’s commissioner, Rachel de Souza and children’s health expert Prof Russell Viner, advises screen time for children under two should be avoided other than for shared activities.Ministers are also considering Australia-style measures to limit or ban social media for under-16s.Speaking at a school in south London about the new guidance, the prime minister said: “When there’s a lot going on, when children are having a tantrum, trying to find something to distract them is an obvious thing, and I don’t think parents and carers have had any guidance at all yet about what would be appropriate, what might be best.”The government is consulting on potential age restrictions on social media and other services, such as gaming sites and AI chatbots, as well as restrictions on addictive design features and risky functionalities, and better support for parents and families.
Starmer said: “Some of this will require a fight,If we’re going to do more to protect children, we’re going to have to fight some of the platforms that are putting the material up there because they’re putting this addictive stuff up there for a reason,They want more children to spend more time online and we’ve got to fight them and be clear whose side we’re on here,”For the purpose of the guidance, screens include tablets, laptops, mobile phones and television,It advises families of two- to five-year-olds to avoid fast-paced social media-style videos, and toys or tools that use artificial intelligence.
Bedtimes and mealtimes should be screen-free, with families advised to instead try background music, table games, bedtime stories and colouring.Watching screens with children and talking and asking questions about the content was better for a child’s cognitive development than letting them use them alone, the guidance says.Shared screen activities could include video calling friends and family or looking through photos together, it advised.About 98% of children are watching screens on a daily basis by the age of two, the government has said previously.Infants with the greatest amount of screen time are significantly less likely to regularly be read to or go on trips outside, the Education Policy Institute has found.
There was also found to be an impact on their language development.Viner, a professor in adolescent health at University College London, said: “Too much solo screen time can crowd out the things that make the biggest difference – sleep, play, physical activity and talking with parents and carers.”The panel recommended in its report that parents should think about their own screen use in front of their children, and consider screen-free periods of the day for the whole family.Dr Mike McKean, the vice-president for policy at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, welcomed the guidance to help parents protect “short, but developmentally crucial early years”.“The growing emphasis on online and digital spaces has made childhood an even more challenging period for parents to navigate,” he said.
“For many years now parents and professionals have been forced to play a dangerous game of catch up, desperately trying to find the right balance for their children,”It is hoped the advice on screen time will help children and families have healthier relationships with screens, and use them in a way that does not risk impacting their readiness to start school,Long periods of time spent on screens alone impacts activities that are key for good development, such as sleep, physical activity, creative play and interaction with parents, the panel found in its review of the evidence,However, limits on screen time should not be applied in the same way for children with special educational needs and disabilities who used screen-based assistive technologies, the panel said,
New York City hospitals drop Palantir as controversial AI firm expands in UK
New York City’s public hospital system announced that it would not be renewing its contract with Palantir as controversy mounts in the UK over the data analytics and AI firm’s government contract.The president of the US’s largest municipal public healthcare system, Dr Mitchell Katz, testified last week before the New York city council that the agreement with Palantir would expire in October.He said at the hearing that the contract, which focused on recovering money for insurance claims, was always meant to be short-term, and that there was an “absolute firewall” preventing Palantir from sharing information with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He said that the agency had “not had any incidents”.The contract and related payment documents shared with the Guardian by the American Friends Service Committee and first reported by the Intercept, show that NYC Health + Hospitals has paid Palantir nearly $4m since November 2023
Human rights groups cheer ‘watershed’ verdict in social media addiction trial
The verdict in a landmark social media trial that Meta and YouTube deliberately designed addictive products has sparked calls for reform across borders. International human rights and tech freedom groups issued statements after the decision, praising jurors for holding social media companies accountable for harms to children and urging tech giants to change their design features to ensure children are safe.Amnesty International said in a statement on Thursday that “this court decision is clear: these platforms are unsafe by design and meaningful change is urgently needed”.The day prior, a Los Angeles jury found both Meta and YouTube liable for intentionally creating platforms that hooked a young user and led to her being harmed. The six-week trial was one of more than 20 “bellwether” trials that are expected to go to court in the next few years
Brussels opens investigation into Snapchat amid concern over children’s safety
Brussels has opened an investigation into Snapchat over concerns the social messaging app is exposing children to grooming, sexual exploitation and other criminality.In a separate decision on Thursday, the European Commission also said four pornographic websites were failing to prevent minors seeing adult content, harming young people’s mental health and fuelling negative gender attitudes.The investigations into five tech companies were brought under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which has come under fire from Donald Trump since coming into force two years ago. Aiming to protect European society from a wide range of internet harms, the DSA includes child safety provisions to combat cyberbullying, exposure to adult content and illegal products.The announcements came after a landmark ruling in a Los Angeles court found that two social media companies, Meta and YouTube, had deliberately created addictive products that harmed a young user
Google warns quantum computers could hack encrypted systems by 2029
Banks, governments and technology providers need to be prepared for quantum computer hackers capable of breaking most existing encryption systems by 2029, Google has warned.The tech company said in a blogpost that quantum computers would pose a “significant threat to current cryptographic standards” before the end of the decade and urged other companies to follow its lead.The company, owned by Alphabet, said: “The encryption currently used to keep your information confidential and secure could easily be broken by a large-scale quantum computer in coming years.”As it stands, quantum computers – which can rapidly carry out complex tasks – are a nascent technology with great potential and significant obstacles to being widely usable.Google, Microsoft and universities across the UK and the US are in the midst of building systems that harness the physics of quantum mechanics to perform extremely sophisticated mathematical calculations
Starmer vows to tackle social media’s ‘addictive features’ to protect children
Keir Starmer has said he will tackle “addictive features” in social media amid increasing signs the UK government is preparing to crack down on risks to children after a US court verdict that held Meta and YouTube responsible for harms caused by designing addictive technology.The prime minister said the verdict in a California court signalled a rising public expectation for more aggressive regulation and said: “I’m absolutely clear that we need to go further.”“The status quo isn’t good enough,” he said. “We need to do more to protect children. That’s why we’re consulting about issues such as banning social media for under-16s
Creator of AI actor Tilly Norwood says she received death threats over project
The creator of the AI actor Tilly Norwood has said she received death threats after a global backlash against the project, and said she developed it to “provoke thoughts and discussion” about the impact of AI in the entertainment world.Eline van der Velden caused anger and panic in Hollywood and beyond last year after she said talent agents had been interested in signing her creation. Prominent actors and acting unions immediately condemned the idea.In an interview with the Guardian, Van der Velden said she had been prepared for a backlash against the provocative idea of AI performers. However, she said she was “quite shocked by the vitriol” that followed
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