UK Police Bosses Say Unsafe Social Media Platforms Should Be Blocked for Under 16s The recent call by UK police bosses to block under 16s from accessing social media platforms that fail to disable high risk features is a stark reminder of the online environment's dangers.
Children are being lured into a digital world where predators roam free, and where the law has struggled to keep pace with technology.
According to the National Crime Agency (NCA) and National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC), six key features enable "harm at scale" on social media platforms: mass discoverability of children, unrestricted contact from unknown adults, private or encrypted messaging, algorithms that promote harmful content, nude image sharing or streaming, and weak age checks allowing minors to access adult environments.