Social media ought to have cigarette packet-style well being warnings, Lib Dems to say | EUROtoday

Cigarette-style well being warnings ought to be positioned on social media apps to guard kids from hurt, the Liberal Democrats will say.

In a drive to make the web safer for younger individuals, the celebration additionally needs to introduce a “doomscrolling cap” which might stop their social media feeds from endlessly offering new content material.

Victoria Collins, the Lib Dem science and know-how spokesperson, will lay out the plans in a speech on the celebration’s convention in Bournemouth on Monday.

“If we are going to take on this multibillion-pound industry we need to be brave,” she’s going to inform the convention.

Ms Collins will add: “We have long recognised that where online content poses a threat to public health, we need to know. That’s why I’m calling today for addictive social media apps to come with mandatory health warnings for under-18s.

“Just like cigarettes or alcohol, these addictive products carry well-documented risks, especially for young people.

“The evidence is clear that excessive use of these apps exposes children to mental health issues, to anxiety, sleep disruption and to real harm to attention spans. Don’t they deserve to know that?”

The intervention into the sphere of defending kids on social media comes after celebration chief Sir Ed Davey continued his spat with tech boss Elon Musk.

Sir Ed has referred to as for Ofcom to research Mr Musk’s X platform for permitting pictures of kid abuse and self-harm directions to proliferate.

The US-based businessman has been crucial of Sir Keir Starmer’s Government for introducing the Online Safety Act, geared toward defending kids on-line, however which Mr Musk says has a chilling impact on free speech.

Sir Ed is predicted to assault Mr Musk in his convention speech on Tuesday.

His celebration’s science spokesperson Ms Collins additionally turned up the warmth on the Government for not going far sufficient to defend kids from dangerous on-line content material.

She stated: “Peter Kyle, until recently the science secretary, has mooted time caps or curfews on addictive social apps – but moves on to another department leaving behind a record of failure.

“The Government must finally deliver and introduce a doomscroll ban, that caps the amount of time children can spend on these addictive apps.”

Polling commissioned by the Lib Dems forward of the tech-focused speech discovered 80% of fogeys of school-aged kids have reported a minimum of one unfavorable behaviour in younger individuals due to extreme telephone utilization.

The ballot, carried out by Savanta, interviewed a consultant pattern of 611 UK mother and father of school-aged kids on-line between August 22 and 26.