UK Government Consulting on Under-16s Social Media Ban
Plus Snap settles addictive design lawsuit, TikTok vs the US Government seems to be resolved, and Threads overtakes X for mobile usage
Hello! No one focus this week but instead a few interesting bits and pieces. Let’s go…
The UK government is currently consulting on a social media ban for under-16s, and tougher phone rules in school.
Long-rumoured discussions have now been made formal, and its hard not to look at Australia, where the early implementation has been (inevitably) messy. Its too early to tell if it has really made any difference, but presumably developments there will inform these discussions.
I’ll be keeping a close eye on this, and it’ll be interesting to see what measures can even realistically be put in place - there’s a reason the VPN business is booming in the UK at the moment.
In related news, Snap settled an “addictive design” lawsuit a few days before it was due to go to trial. Generally social platforms have been bullish on the line that algorithms aren’t responsible for alleged mental health issues, so this was somewhat of a surprise. But Snap, and others, continue to be involved in other such cases. I’m sceptical what meaningful change any of this will lead to, but we’ll see!
Elsewhere, over a year after the TikTok ‘ban’ was due to start and then was reprieved four times, the US has finally signed off on a deal involving Oracle and numerous other investors. We don’t know an awful lot about what will happen next; for the moment, I’d keep doing whatever you’re doing on the platform, but keep an eye on what happens next. TechCrunch pulled together a useful explainer in case you’ve missed the wider story.
Threads daily active usage keeps growing while X declines, with reports saying that Threads has overtaken X on mobile, but X is ahead for now on desktop. Its safe to say that X is no longer a dominant player, however - although surely the best X story this week is the stranger-than-fiction ongoing beef between Elon Musk and Ryanair.
Finally, and this is something I’ll look further at over the next few weeks, but this is a great article about how you need to think off-site when it comes to your SEO. It aligns a lot with what I’m seeing on LLMs/GEO at the moment - worth a look.
That’s it for this week! I’ll be back next week. If you found this interesting, I would hugely appreciate it if you shared with your friends and colleagues.
If you’re feeling particularly generous and enjoyed this edition, I won’t stop you from buying me a coffee. Otherwise, I’ll see you next time 🫶