Telegraph – Child safety is the smokescreen as the nanny state goes digital

UK — Civil Society · 2026-04-15 · UK · verified record

Themes: Child safety & minors · Online platforms · Search services

Ecosystems: UK Online Safety Act

On Wednesday, the House of Commons will passionately debate which form of internet censorship to usher in: a total social media ban for under-16s, or a blank cheque for ministers to impose broad internet controls at a later date. The aim, as it so often is in a nanny state, is admirable: to protect children from the many potential harms on the internet. Few will disagree about the direction of travel. The problem is that the destination we are hurtling towards is not some safe, walled garden of children playing nicely in the Metaverse. It is a scrap heap of authoritarian internet controls gove

On Wednesday, the House of Commons will passionately debate which form of internet censorship to usher in: a total social media ban for under-16s, or a blank cheque for ministers to impose broad internet controls at a later date. The aim, as it so often is in a nanny state, is admirable: to protect

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