Laissez-faire response from tech giants comes as UK trials different kinds of curbs on social media.
LONDON — Just as the U.K. kicks off a trial to see if kicking kids off social media is a viable policy, representatives for Big Tech firms told British MPs they’re really not that bothered by the idea of a ban.
The U.K. government is in the middle of a consultation that will determine whether it decides to introduce a social media ban for under-16s. Keir Starmer’s government has given itself sweeping powers so that if the consultation does come out in favor of a ban, it can move swiftly.
As part of that consultation, the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology on Wednesday kicked a pilot scheme involving 300 teenagers that will see how putting different curbs around their social media use may or may not improve their wellbeing.
One group of teens will have access to social media totally disabled, while a second group will be limited to one hour per day on specific apps including Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. A third group will be blocked from social media between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., and a fourth will have regular access to act as the control group.
Representatives from Meta, Google, TikTok, and X appeared before the Science, Innovation, and Technology select committee this week, and were pressed by MPs on whether they were for or against the idea of a social media ban.
TikTok’s Director of Public Policy for Northern Europe Alistair Law said it was “for policymakers to decide,” whether a ban for children was appropriate. He then summarized TikTok’s stance on a ban as “neutral” after being pushed by MPs.
X’s Director of Global Government Affairs Wilfredo Fernandez also described his company’s stance as “sort of neutral at the moment,” adding: “We have no business in kids … globally less than 1 percent of our user base are under the age of 18 and over 13, in the U.K. that’s less than half of a percent, so we don’t have a major dog in this fight,”
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, came out slightly more strongly against a ban. Rebecca Stimson, U.K. Director of Public Policy at Meta, said she didn’t think a ban would “solve the problems that the government is trying to solve.”
Stimson also said that children are “not a revenue-generator” for Meta because of advertising restrictions. Labour MP Samantha Niblett seemed unconvinced by that argument, responding: “What’s in it for you, sucking kids in then? Is it basically, it’s making it ubiquitous in their lives so that when they’re older they’re sort of addicted to your platforms so you can make money?”