Parliament is going to debate the petition "Do not ban social media for 16s" - https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/757233 on 2 November 2026.

Reasons for the ban include mental health harms, addiction, and sleep deprivation. Companies have been held liable for knowingly designing platforms with addictive features that harm young users: https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/31/meta-was-finally-held-accountable-for-harming-teens-now-what/.

Enforcing a ban will require everyone who uses "social media" to submit their identity to untrustworthy age verification providers. It can force an ultimatum: delete "social media accounts", submit ID or bypass the check. I would rather delete my accounts than submit my ID.

Unlike with in-person ID checks, your ID is photographed/scanned and stored in a centralised database, waiting to be hacked.

Any method of enforcing online age verification can and will be bypassed by the most determined people. A reason I'd speculate on is due to being privacy conscious and understanding the very real risks of identity theft through submitting ID online.

As a counter-alternative to age verification I suggest:

• Regulating the algorithm/design of major platforms
  
• Platform accountability for design harms
  
• Digital literacy / education
  
• Better support and advice for parents
  
• Parents talking to their kids about what they see online
  

Multiple scientists, organisations and companies have already objected the age verification approach:

• https://csa-scientist-open-letter.org/ageverif-Feb2026
  
• https://www.openrightsgroup.org/press-releases/companies-and-civil-society-warn-that-uk-is-undermining-open-web/
  

Regarding identity theft, misuse and other data security risks, see:

• https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/10/id-verification-giant-idscan-confirms-data-breach-with-more-than-150-million-drivers-licenses-stolen/
  
• https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/26/uk-visa-portal-spilled-thousands-of-applicants-passports-and-selfies-online-and-hasnt-fixed-the-leak/
  
• https://cybernews.com/security/eu-age-verification-app-hack/
  
• https://reclaimthenet.org/yoti-gdpr-fine-age-verification
  
• https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2026/02/age-verification-vendor-persona-left-frontend-exposed
  
• https://cybernews.com/security/global-data-leak-exposes-billion-records/
  
• https://www.openrightsgroup.org/press-releases/roblox-reddit-and-discord-users-compelled-to-use-biometric-id-system-backed-by-palantir-co-founder-peter-thiel/
  
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-claim-discord-breach-exposed-data-of-55-million-users/
  
• https://reclaimthenet.org/age-verification-systems-france-privacy-risks-ai-forensics-report
  
• https://www.idstrong.com/sentinel/tea-app-data-breach/
  
• https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/06/hack-age-verification-company-shows-privacy-danger-social-media-laws
  
• https://thehackernews.com/2022/12/ftc-fines-fortnite-maker-epic-games-275.html
  
• https://www.biometricupdate.com/202208/id-me-finds-itself-accused-of-biometric-data-privacy-violation
  
• https://cybernews.com/security/popular-apps-left-biometric-data-ids-of-millions-of-users-in-danger/
  

The UK is a nightmare police state and needs to be dismantled ASAP, independence for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland and overseas territories given away to other countries, and the monarchy abolished (everyone involved in that family is a criminal.)

I agree that uk is a bit of a police state. It arrests more people for speech than China, Russia, Iran, etc. combined.

Though I don't see a practical benefit of being independent nations unless also remaining as a non-EU member state and seeking alternative trade deals.