Guyana consults on social media for children – banning or restriction?

Yesterday, the Government of Guyana launched a national consultation in respect of regulating or banning children’s use of social media. The Government has signalled that it might prefer not to ban children’s use of social media but to regulate its use in order to prevent abuse and negative impacts. The Government from the outset has acknowledged the benefits of the World Wide Web and social media, including educational opportunities. However, the Government also acknowledges the well-established dark side of the web, which has proved to be detrimental to the welfare of children.
There is overwhelming support for such regulations. Guyanese, like their counterparts in other countries, overwhelmingly support regulations for children’s use of social media. The launching of consultations represents another promise kept. VP Jagdeo had indicated that the Government will introduce legislation to deal with this issue this year. Ruminations commends the Government on keeping its promise to act in the interest of our children.
Even as Guyana begins the process of introducing regulations on children’s use of social media, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Monday announced a social media ban for under-16s after the House of Lords backed legislation to accomplish this. The peers in the House of Lords passed an amendment to the Government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill – a wide-ranging set of laws currently making its way through the UK’s parliament. At the beginning of March, the UK Government launched consultations asking the British public how they want to protect young people online. The UK laws, in addition to blocking teenagers from apps like TikTok and Instagram, include measures like overnight social media curfews, restrictions to “addictive” features like infinite scrolling and autoplay, and blocks to stop children from using chatbots.
The UK is following Australia, which became the first country in the world last December to ban the use of social media by children. It has been six months since Australia banned children’s use of social media. Many other countries are in the process of regulating children’s use of social media. The acceleration of the movement towards regulating social media use by children comes amid mounting concerns over the impact of social media on children’s health and safety.
As Guyana consults, one important question is what punishment would extend to families and children when restrictions are not obeyed. Australia presents a practical approach – families and children will not be punished. Instead, the tech companies will be punished if they do not take reasonable action to prevent children from bypassing the rules.
Other than Guyana, and outside of Australia, the UK, and France, other countries that are presently in the process of restricting use of social media include Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Türkiye, and America.
Ruminations urges that Guyana follow the regulatory pathway and not be tempted in a hasty banning exercise. There can be absolutely no doubt that children are exposed to the dark side of the web and that we need to protect children. There can be no doubt that children can abuse the use of social media and that children can become exposed to the addictive side of social media. Yet, we must acknowledge that there are many good things that social media brings to society and, particularly, our children. It is for this reason that before Guyana or any country takes the absolute “ban” pathway, we need the social scientists to do more studies to show the negative impact.
As we decide on a way forward, Ruminations urge a balanced approach, involving education, regulation, and parental involvement. We must teach and empower our children to navigate social media responsibly. Schools and parents must play important roles in educating children about social media safety techniques, recognising harmful content, and understanding the effects of excessive screen time. While banning might seem like a quick fix, outright banning, as opposed to regulations to hold social media platforms accountable and to empower teachers and parents to play a role in children’s use of social media, is a more practical way forward. It is a case of not throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Ruminations urges that a major part of the legislation on children’s use of social media must be holding social media platforms accountable for creating safer environments for children. Governments and regulators must work with tech companies to implement strict age verification mechanisms, ensure the absence of harmful content, and provide tools to help users manage screen time that prioritises children’s well-being. Hopefully, Guyana’s legislation will weigh both the benefits and risks of social media. Ruminations believe we can protect our children from the negative impact of social media while preserving the benefits such as education and building digital literacy. Whatever the legislation, we must not side-line the responsibility of parents and guardians.
As Guyana consults, Ruminations urges Guyanese and our MPs to consider the words of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk: “Online harms to kids’ safety, privacy and wellbeing result from design choices and business practices that undermine safety, including addictive design features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, and persistent notifications.” A major component of Guyana’s regulatory laws on social media use by children must be dedicated to the tech companies. The starting point in addressing the negative impact of social media on our children must be directing tech companies to be more responsible.
Ruminations’ contribution, therefore, as Guyana consults, is a plea for Guyana to address the issue of how platforms are designed and operated to better protect children’s rights and safety. We can do so by regulatory laws, not by the simple banning fix. Should platforms be unwilling to address their designs which target children through addictive programmes, then a restrictive regulatory environment would be forced to adopt banning.