Deny, deny, deny. Then approve to spy

Under-sixteens are to be banned from holding social media accounts on the Australian model. The list covers Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X. Regulations are promised by the end of the year. The ban comes into force in early 2027. The striking part is the about-turn. This spring the Commons voted an under-sixteen ban down by 307 to 173 in March, with more than a hundred Labour Members of Parliament abstaining. In December the Prime Minister called himself “personally opposed” to a blanket ban. Yet the statement uses the very discretionary power Members of Parliament granted instead, to bring the very ban they declined. The consequence runs well past teenagers. To keep under-sixteens out, platforms must age-check everyone, adults included. That points to an age-verified, identity-checked internet the Free Speech Union and privacy campaigners call surveillance by another name. It was the week’s defining story, and it came wrapped in a rebuke. The Deputy Speaker opened by recording the Speaker’s displeasure that the Prime Minister had unveiled it from Downing Street, not the House. Around it ran a tech-and-online-safety cluster, taking in disinformation, online hate speech and a cyber-security bill. The division bell rang nine times, most loudly to send the Railways Bill out of the Commons and up to the Lords.

The most-asked subjects

A sample of the week’s questions