Regulate Social Media: Minimum age, require ID, prevent abuse of anonymity

Rejected 13 signatures

What the petition asks

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.

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

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

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' Require social media companies to verify age of users and label child accounts

'Fine social media platforms for allowing harmful content' Fine social media platforms for allowing harmful content

Require social media platforms to report hate/ racist comments to the police.
Require social media platforms to report hate/ racist comments to the police.

Timeline

8 Feb 2021	Petition opened for signatures
15 Feb 2021	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 13

Status Rejected

Rejected 15 Feb 2021

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