PM ‘very keen’ for action on ‘addictive features within social media’

Evening Standard

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he is “very keen” for the Government to tackle addictive features within social media following a landmark trial in the US.In a potentially precedent-setting ruling on Wednesday in Los Angeles, a jury ruled that Google, owner of YouTube, and Meta, which operates Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, built platforms to hook young users without regard for their wellbeing.The lawsuit, brought after a young woman argued a childhood addiction to social media had exacerbated her mental health issues, could influence the outcomes of thousands of similar cases which accuse social media firms of causing harm.

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00:18I think it does and obviously we'll study that ruling very carefully but I'm absolutely clear

00:24that we need to go further the status quo isn't good enough we need to do more to protect

00:29children that's why we're consulting about issues such as banning social media for under 16s I'm very

00:37keen that we do more on addictive features within social media we've already taken the powers so that

00:44when we get to the end of the consultation we don't have to wait years to implement this but I

00:48want to be really clear it's not you know if things are going to change things are going to change

00:54the

00:55question is how much and what are we going to do and that's what we're working on I'll be saying

00:59some more about this tomorrow

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