This Week in Tech (Audio)

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TWiT 1089: Robot Butt Crack - Anthropic Banned, But Winning

Explore episode Jun 22, 2026
Society & Culture
The UK's Under-16 Social Media Ban: Unenforceable Legislation

TWiT 1089: Robot Butt Crack - Anthropic Banned, But Winning · Jun 22, 2026 Society & Culture

The UK government is banning children under 16 from YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, and Facebook by year's end. The only real enforcement mechanism would be mandatory government ID for all social media — a privacy nightmare. Iain Thomson, who has friends in Australia, says the equivalent Australian ban simply hasn't worked.

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