I live in the UK and banning social media seems a bit China style
What do you guys think?
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I think this falls into the norm of the U.K.
They have a history of banning things, including books, films, sports, speech, protest, etc.
Move to Texas fam 
That’s the joke
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They are only going to ban the site if they do not remove pro-suicide posts.
Seems anti-China to me. They are doing it for a specific reason, and that is to protect the users of that social media site, which is of course their citizens. It’s not like they are doing it in a censorship way.
Even if a site does get banned, once they clean up their act they’ll be back… I would imagine.
I would also imagine that this would create jobs. Companies would hire people to review and purge posts that would violate the new law.
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If a more viable solution to the platforms dealing with content discussed in the article was presented, I’m sure everyone would go along with it. People like Matt Hancock have no clue how the platforms work (not in any way saying I do either haha), or underestimate the scale of it, so they grossly oversimplify the problem. It’s not as simple as banning hastags.
Just something he’s said on the Andrew Marr Show, and I doubt he’ll put forward anything to parliament.
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Very true that. Problem is I feel working on frontline healthcare I find that the problem is deeper then just social media. The amount of mental health problems in the UK that go unchecked is astronomical these days. Especially the younglings I think every shift I see atleast 3-4 teenaged who have overdosed etc. Sad thing is nothing comes of it. Just put on a waiting list. I’m sure it’s the same every country though.
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I don’t think there’s a specific way to deal with this “issue”. It’s a problem that stems from many different problems and you can’t just tackle one without causing other “problems”. Like how’s Instagram going to be sure no harmful ideas are conveyied through their social? How the UK it’s going to be sure that nobody will fly under the radar on Instagram or other social media? Also now maybe it’s Instagram but we know very well that 4chan especially and Reddit are full of bad things that might push someone to harm or kill themselves. The point maybe it trying to give an emotional education to kids and parents, warn parents about those kind of threats (without scaring them) so that everyone can do their part to prevent this issue from spreading.
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You’d think that would be the first thought of a Health Secretary. Educate rather than nanny.
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The UK is a nanny state for sure.
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Unfortunately that’s the approach to many many problems, either being a state doing this or just parents of a kid. Educate someone requires time, energy and money. Nobody has time for that so they think the direct solution to this problem is the best one. When in fact it’s just trying to repair a dam with duckt tape.
I don’t want to be catastrophic but there will always be people depressed for any kind of reason, maybe even more in this time where the mental stress is progressively worse.
Maybe a first bandaid solution is a temporary ban, but it’s never going to work on the long run. sorry for the rant people.
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Social Media
Causing problems for the crown since 1776 
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Let me make a crude analogy:
A grocery store buys and builds upon land that was previously a dog park. Now, the grocery store is hiring new staff to clean up the dog poo from the parking lot, because the city seems to think the fecal minefield is the store’s fault (not to mention financial responsibility) for building, and not the dogs owners’ responsibility.
Sure, these new Instagram jobs may be ok for certain individuals, if only to help them realize their own mortality, but it could also create more aggressive social media companies.
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Social media sites like Instagram invariably lead to nothing but depression and time wasting.
On the one hand, good riddance.
On the other hand, authoritarianism…
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They are essentially gambling:
Attempts cost very little, the user does not feel like they are investing.
The user gets the feeling of belonging to something bigger, they come back when they had to leave.
But the slot machine never pays out.
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Hmmm, never thought about it that way. Intriguing.
Oi call the bobbies, this blokes on facebook without a loisence
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As a person with regular suicidal thoughts, all that shit is gunna do is get kids dead faster.
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exactly 100% true.
stay away from that online bullshit, everybody leaves a bad party but online the worst party is where the heat is.
just like the lounge. /jk
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Sorry I have not read the replies but this is just oar for the course in UK news. They always jump for the nuclear option.
Social media will not, and indeed cannot, be banned. That’s just silly.
The world is toxic. I find it right here in The Lounge. If social media is not properly moderated or other things on the net are not properly moderated then yes certain things are worth being banned, taken down, etc.
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The UK doesn’t fit your political ideals. So what. It doesn’t mean that their politics overall aren’t way ahead of what MURICA does. Honestly though the whole world is garbage as it could be doing more to make a Utopia or close to it on Earth. To hell with all nations.