# Reality Check: is Starmer right to ban social media for children? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/reality-check-is-starmer-right-to-ban-social-media-for-children Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/reality-check-is-starmer-right-to-ban-social-media-for-children.md Podcast: [Best of the Spectator](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373) Published: 2026-06-16T10:48:49+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/best-of-the-spectator/episodes/reality-check-is-starmer-right-to-ban-social-media-for-child Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68358fb5e1abc4be6b0308eb/e/6a312a11441ab5ca225b0517/media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=2uFW37FMc4IPQFUj_JsTgE7fNd0biL3iXc9iXpEmqlM Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/best-of-the-spectator-45373/episodes/reality-check-is-starmer-right-to-ban-social-media-for-children Duration seconds: 966 ## Resource Keir Starmer has announced his plans to ban social media for under 16s in Britain. The ban is due to come in early next year and include all main social media apps. Age-recognition and digital ID checks will be used to keep children away from social media. But when it comes to child safety, will it make a difference? And what are the unintended consequences of a ban? Michael Simmons challenges The Spectator's John Power. This episode is brought to you by Artemis Fund Managers, for more information on our fund range please click here https://www.artemisfunds.com/ . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/best-of-the-spectator-45373/episodes/reality-check-is-starmer-right-to-ban-social-media-for-children/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/reality-check-is-starmer-right-to-ban-social-media-for-children.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.