The social media ban for under 16s is interesting as it feels like a low-stakes admission from government that social media use can be highly problematic.

The reasons for this are in the design of the platforms, and I would argue that it's probably not the under-16s who are most at risk from its most pernicious harms.

I don't think many under-16s were rioting in Southampton and Belfast over the last couple of weeks. That unrest was almost entirely social media-generated. #socialmedia

@martwritesstuff Aye.

As a rule of thumb, I am against bans that do not address harms or bad actors.

They say think of the kids! Predators! Bullying to extremes!

I say: put predators in jail using your existing laws, prosecute assaulters and hate crime using existing laws.

To me it makes no sense to ban things and ignore the actual issue. But. What do I know.