‘Social media should be treated like tobacco’: health experts say the internet is just as bad as smoking for under-16s as UK government edges closer to introducing ban

Social media use has been compared to smoking by medical professionals as the UK government enters the final stages of its ban consultation. [...]

Meta's subscription plans are the tip of a terrible pay-to-engage iceberg and may be the beginning of the end for social media as we know it

Meta's Plus subscription plan is probably the worst thing to happen to social media since the dislike button. [...]

The risks are 'real, measurable, and increasing': Canada is the latest country to move to ban social media for under-16s

Canada has tabled a bill that will stop under-16s from accessing social media, though it's not law yet. [...]

How will the UK's social media ban actually work? Here's the full list of affected apps — and 5 things you need to know

The UK social media ban is one of the most significant pieces of tech legislation in the modern era — but how is it going to work? [...]

Commodore’s comeback flip phone runs your apps but bans the doomscroll

Commodore, the computer brand that defined the 1980s, is back with a flip phone, and its main selling point is everything it will not let you do. The Callback 8020, announced on Tuesday, is a clamshel [...]

YouTube settles ahead of California’s second social-media addiction trial

A month before a Los Angeles jury was due to hear a Florida teenager’s case, Google quietly stepped out of it, leaving Meta, Snap and TikTok to argue the rest. Google’s YouTube has settled with a [...]

56% of US Adults Would Support a Social Media Ban for Teens

The new survey comes amid a campaign for governments to keep kids off social media. [...]

'Ineffective and useless': the UK government is proposing a midnight social media curfew for 16 and 17-year-olds, but there's an easy loophole

On top of the complete ban on social media for under-16s, older teens will have restrictions put on their apps. [...]

France’s under-15 social media ban is struck down two weeks before it starts

The decision lands about two weeks before the ban was due to start, Bloomberg reported. Platforms were to stop creating accounts for under-15s from 1 September. Parliament gave the law final approval [...]