This week, the UK announced a wide-ranging ban on social media that will soon block users from communicating or accessing information on apps such as X, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat unless they prove that they’re over the age of 16.

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, called the policy “a line in the sand”. “Tech giants had their chance and failed,” he said, “but we’re stepping in to protect children, back parents and set a new normal for future generations.” All internet users, especially children, should be protected from exploitative systems online, but this new law will only foster more harm and help the largest and most powerful tech companies consolidate power and influence over everyone’s lives.

Details are yet to be confirmed, but in order to verify the age of a user, tech companies may require them to upload government ID along with an image for AI to verify. Soon, in addition to basic login information, tech companies could gather facial scans, detailed biometric data and highly sensitive info from millions of users. This is data that big tech companies previously may not have had access to.

The data is then used to build consumer profiles which are sold to advertisers for a profit or, more recently, used to train AI systems. To maximise profits, tech companies also use this data to deliver hypertargeted content to keep us engaged. Mark Zuckerberg explained this business model succinctly in April 2018 while being interrogated by members of Congress amid the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In response to a question from Senator Orrin Hatch, who asked how Facebook could possibly sustain a business model where users don’t pay for the service, Zuckerberg responded: “Senator, we run ads.”

All data is subject to protection laws when harvested and sold between companies, but it can also be stolen and exploited by bad actors.........

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