A social media ban won't fix online harms.

That's because the business model creating them is left untouched.

It just makes every user do an ID check to prove they’re over 16.

Instead we should tackle the attention capture economy of targeted ads and personalised algorithms.

Sign our petition ⬇️

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/break-big-tech

#socialmediaban #onlinesafety #socialmedia #stopKillingInternet #ukpol #ukpolitics #privacy #censorship #bigtech

"Every failed attempt to make children safer online is followed by more surveillance and censorship.

Children have rights too and these policies will harm their free expression and privacy rights, and push them into less regulated spaces."

🗣️ ORG's James Baker on the under-16s social media ban.

https://www.theregister.com/personal-tech/2026/06/15/britain-plots-digital-bedtime-after-kicking-under-16s-off-social-media/5255341

#socialmediaban #ukpol #onlinesafety #stopKillingInternet #ukpolitics

The fight for the open Internet is on – support our work 🦾

We're facing a social media ban, digital ID checkpoints and powers to scan our devices.

Our privacy and free expression rights could lie in tatters if we don't resist.

Donate now to power our grassroots movement ⬇️

https://action.openrightsgroup.org/build-our-grassroots-power-defend-open-internet

#StopKillingInternet #grassroots #crowdfunder #socialmediaban #digitalrights #privacy #freeexpression #censorship #digitalid #ukpolitics #ukpol

The problem of online harms lies with the underlying business models of social media platforms.

Bans based on making everyone do digital ID checks don't change that.

We must break the advertising-driven business model built on surveillance, profiling and maximising engagement.

Sign our petition ⬇️

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/break-big-tech

#stopKillingInternet #socialmediaban #socialmedia #onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #privacy #censorship #ukpolitics #ukpol #kierstarmer

A global movement to #stopKillingInternet is coming.

Bans will wall off the open Internet. Kids locked out and adults pushed through digital ID checks.

Connection and access to information is being swept away for a policy that leaves platforms free to continue promoting harmful content for profit.

Find out more ➡️ https://www.stopkillingtheinternet.com/

#socialmediaban #socialmedia #onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #privacy #censorship #ukpolitics #ukpol #kierstarmer

Social media bans don't work.

Yet it's happening globally as leaders try to grab headlines with creeping digital ID checks.

This doesn't take on how platforms are designed to capture users' attention with harmful content through data-driven algorithms so they can sell ads.

ORG's @JamesBaker explains ➡️ https://peertube.openrightsgroup.org/w/bBTjPwubE92HMVGtt9dN2Z

#stopKillingInternet #socialmediaban #socialmedia #onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #privacy #censorship #ukpolitics #ukpol #kierstarmer

It's like a list of all the things that go wrong in Internet policy. Here is one that is very fundamental and recognisable, for example, in the online space among others

If my post on social media got you thinking about why systems go wrong and how, then do read this chapter on common systems failures by Donella Meadows:
https://www.gc.soton.ac.uk/files/2015/01/Thinking-in-Systems-110-140.pdf

The UK Cybersecurity Bill returns to Parliament TOMORROW!

This is our chance to get the government to come up with a UK Digital Sovereignty strategy.

One that protects our independence and security through open source instead of compromised US Big Tech.

Tell your MP to back the amendment TODAY ⬇️

https://action.openrightsgroup.org/tell-your-mp-end-big-tech-rip/?mtm_campaign=big-tech-rip-off&mtm_source=mastodon

#BigTechRipOff #digitalsovereignty #techsovereignty #bigtech #opensource #palantir #ukpolitics #ukpol

Age verification addresses the symptoms not the cause – and even feeds back into the harmful business model. The data shared for age verification can also be used by platforms and the wider data broker ecosystem to send you ads and customised content, fuelling the harmful business model. #socialmedia

Major social media platforms rely on extensive collection of personal data to target advertising and maximise user engagement. Their business models are designed to keep users online for longer, using algorithms that prioritise content most likely to capture attention and drive interaction. This contributes to the spread of harmful, polarising and addictive content, with consequences for both individual wellbeing and democratic discourse.

What's clear is that the politics aren't thinking this through. Please do take the time to read through the blog, and let me know what you think!

In less than a year, the government has expanded age verification to such an extent so that soon it will be virtually impossible to be online in the UK without handing over identity documents or biometric data to unregulated companies.

Forcing people to prove their identity in this way puts adults and 16- 17 year olds at risk of their personal data being hacked. Discord is one example of a platform that suffered a major data-leak as a result of the introduction of age-assurance.

These headline-grabbing proposals by a Prime Ministers on his way out fail to address the root causes on online harms – business models that reward harmful content.

The government is on a policy failure ratchet, of policy failures that are followed by more and more censorship and surveillance measures that also fail, because safety is never delivered this way.

I have no idea of policy advisors graphed out the Online Safety Act or the current proposals in this way. The idea is to think about what acts on what. Then policy analysts can think about what interventions might actually work.

Here is how we might view the Online Harms policy system. Hopefully it is entirely clear that online harms policies are nowhere near the engine producing them, and that the policies are self-reinforcing in the face of failure

Over the past week I’ve been working with a group of organisations from the world. Plans are underway to launch a new global movement to oppose restrictions such as bans or device scanning that harm the open net. Formal Announcements we can expect tomorrow in the meantime https://www.stopkillingtheinternet.com/ #stopKillingInternet

As Sir Patrick Vallance explains. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/systems-thinking-for-civil-servants/toolkit

I use tools for policy planning that the government claims to use to avoid unintended consequences when dealing with complicated systems

In this blog I explain how social media policy keeps failing, and why. The reason is simple: policies are dealing with the effects of the business model, not the model itself.