Starmer Pledges Action on Social Media's Addictive Features Following US Court Verdict
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has declared that the UK government must take more aggressive steps to regulate social media platforms, specifically targeting their "addictive features" to safeguard children. This announcement comes in the wake of a landmark ruling in a California court, which found Meta and YouTube negligent for designing technology that caused harm to young users.
US Court Verdict Sparks Calls for Stronger Regulation
In Los Angeles, California, families gathered outside the court on Wednesday, accusing Meta and YouTube of endangering their children. The jury's decision awarded $6 million (£4.5 million) in damages to a 20-year-old plaintiff who claimed she became addicted to social media as a child, with Meta responsible for 70% of the payment and YouTube for the remainder. The verdict, reached after nine days of deliberation, marks the first trial concerning alleged social media harms to young people.
Starmer emphasized that this ruling signals a growing public demand for stricter oversight. "I'm absolutely clear that we need to go further," he stated. "The status quo isn't good enough. We need to do more to protect children. That's why we're consulting about issues such as banning social media for under-16s. I'm very keen that we do more on addictive features within social media."
Tech Companies and Campaigners React
Google, which owns YouTube, announced plans to appeal the verdict, arguing that YouTube is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site. Meta similarly expressed disagreement and is evaluating legal options. Meanwhile, campaigners celebrated the outcome. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex called it "a reckoning," stating in a release: "For too long, families have paid the price for platforms built with total disregard for the children they reach. Today, the truth has been heard and precedent has been set."
Other advocates, including the Molly Rose Foundation—established after the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell from exposure to harmful content on Instagram—hailed the decision as a potential turning point. "The ruling will rightly send shock waves across the tech sector and governments," they noted, urging legislation to make safety a priority for tech firms operating in the UK.
Broader Implications and Expert Insights
Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission's digital chief, commented that this case and similar pending ones send "a very clear message" about the risks online platforms pose. In the UK, experts like Thomas Lancaster from Imperial College London warned that unenforceable policies put vulnerable users at risk. "Ethically, this has to serve as a warning for the wider technology sector," he said.
With more lawsuits pending in US courts, Sacha Haworth of the Tech Oversight Project told Reuters: "The era of big tech invincibility is over. New evidence and testimony have pulled back the curtain and validated the harms young people and parents have been telling the world about for years." This verdict underscores the urgent need for global regulatory efforts to address the addictive nature of social media and protect children from potential harms.
