UK online safety minister Kanishka Narayan has suggested a social media ban for children might be extended to video game platforms.
Narayan told The Sunday Times he will consider imposing restrictions on popular video game platforms if the UK government decides to block teenagers from social media—although the minister didn’t explain which platforms or titles would be targeted.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer, whose leadership is being challenged by members of his own party (via The Guardian), has committed to introducing a policy that could mimic the social media ban for under-16s rolled out in Australia or perhaps take a looser approach by simply limiting features such as scrolling, autoplay, and location sharing.
A number of popular video game platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite allow users to chat with each other without needing to reveal their identity.
Some of those platforms have faced criticism from government officials and parents around the world over a perceived lack of protection for younger users. In response to that mounting scrutiny (and in some cases, even litigation), Roblox recently bolstered its suite of parental controls and introduced age-based accounts that prohibit access to some experiences and communications features.
Video games are issued age classifications in the UK to ensure parents know which products are age-appropriate for their children.
Even so, Narayan told The Sunday Times that the ability to pair with strangers online was an issue he heard discussed “mostly in the context of gaming platforms.”
“That will weigh quite significantly in my mind as we think about how we stop some of the most egregious harms for young people,” he added.
It’s a concern echoed by Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, who over the weekend told Sky News that video games in particular place young boys at risk.
“Boys often aren’t on social media,” she said during Sky News program Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips. “They’re often spending three or four hours a day gaming. And those games often have features that allow a 55-year-old in Arizona to come in and speak to a nine-year-old.”
“I wouldn’t be calling it a ban of children—I’d be calling it a ban and restriction on services that are not suitable for under-eighteens.”
As noted by The BBC in March, the effectiveness of Australia’s social media ban—which notably doesn’t impact video game platforms—has been questioned, with regulators suggesting social media companies and platforms are not doing enough to ensure compliance.
When contacted by The BBC, a spokesperson for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp owner Meta said the company is “committed” to complying with the ban, but noted that accurate age verification is a “challenge for the whole industry.”
Scotland’s children’s commissioner Nicola Killean recently warned that a UK-wide social media ban could do more harm than good by pushing children towards dangerous parts of the internet (via The BBC).
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