UK gives Facebook a week to protect children online

Britain yesterday threatened new laws to regulate Facebook and other social media companies if they did not do more to protect young people online.

Health Minister Jeremy Hunt did not say what kind of legislation the UK might impose but gave the companies until the end of the month to come up with ways to tackle cyber bullying, age verification and the amount of time young people spend on the internet.

The National Bullying Helpline receives 1,000 inquiries on cyber intimidation every day.

The UK’s chief medical officer has also been asked to review how technology effects the mental health of children, with a view to recommending daily limits on screen time.

“I worry a generation is being exposed prematurely to the emotional side effects of social media,” Mr Hunt wrote in a

Sunday Times article.

He said he met representatives from Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo and Google six months ago and challenged them to work with the government to improve the mental health and well-being of children.

Apart from “a lot of warm words”, Mr Hunt said he had seen little action. He accused the companies of “turning a blind eye” to the effect social media had on children.

In a letter to the companies, he called their failure “unacceptable and irresponsible”.

“I am concerned that your companies seem content with a situation where thousands of users breach your own terms and conditions on the minimum user age,” he wrote.

“I fear that you are collectively turning a blind eye to a whole generation of children being prematurely exposed to the harmful emotional side effects of social media.

“An industry that boasts some of the brightest minds and biggest budgets should have been able to rise to the challenge.”

Google’s public policy manager Katie O’Donovan said the company understood the challenge of helping the children to make the most of the internet in a safe way.

“We launched Family Link to help parents set digital ground rules for their children such as screen time limits,” Ms O’Donovan said in a statement.

“We also developed the first online safety course to be officially accredited and have taught it to over 40,000 school children so far.”

The other tech companies did not respond to requests for comment yesterday. Facebook told Sky News that the company shared Mr Hunt’s ambition to create a safe environment for young people online.

The National Bullying Helpline is lobbying for legislation with clearer definitions so that everyone involved knows what is acceptable and where the boundaries lie.

But Mr Hunt may come up against privacy campaigners should he decide to push for new laws. Open Rights Group has already called age verification a “huge threat to privacy for millions across the UK”.

Mental health campaigner Natasha Devon said it appeared that Mr Hunt has suddenly realised the impact of social media companies that have changed the cultural landscape.

“Having said that, it’s not going anywhere,” Ms Devon said. “I feel like a lot of the proposals are basically saying we want to turn back time, and that’s not going to happen.”

It is not the first time Mr Hunt has attacked Facebook. Last year, when the company released a version aimed at children, he warned Facebook to “stay away from my kids”.

Britain has also clashed with internet companies over payment of taxes, the spread of fake news, extremist material and the collection of personal data.