This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Regulate Social Media: Minimum age, require ID, prevent abuse of anonymity
I'm calling on the Government to introduce new legislation to counter the unrestrained toxicity enabled by the lack of regulation of social media. In light of recent racist abuse on black footballers, it has become evident that not enough is being done by companies to counteract problems.
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Abuse of anonymity has been a problem ever since social media has existed. It has enabled disgusting abuse of anyone - notably those in the public eye, with numerous cases of abhorrent abuse over the years, from Jesy Nelson to Ian Wright. Along with this, it's no secret that social media is awful for teenagers' mental health and social media companies can't be trusted to act on either of these issues. That's why we need legislation to:
- Require ID when creating a social media account, to prevent abuse of anonymity
- Require a minimum age of 16, to ensure good mental health of young people
- Fine people who spout abuse on social media, and fine social media companies if they do not act quickly on those spouting abuse
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.
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You may wish to sign these petitions which call for the same actions:
'Require social media companies to verify age of users and label child accounts' https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/561830
'Fine social media platforms for allowing harmful content' https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/334376
Require social media platforms to report hate/ racist comments to the police.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/320016
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