We are banning social media access for under 16s. These days kids must find their feet in a world where technology intrudes into every area of their life. I just can’t let that go on anymore. So we’re giving children their childhoods back.

🚨 NEW: Under-16s in the UK will be banned from the following 10 social media apps TikTok YouTube Snapchat Instagram X Reddit Facebook Twitch Kick Threads

🚨NEW: Teachers are raising concerns about a ban on YouTube for under-16s as many year 10 and 11 students use the platform to learn and revise GCSE content

🚨 NEW: Keir Starmer will introduce nightly social media curfews for 16 and 17-year-olds as part of the Government's social media ban [@thetimes]

🚨 NEW: Keir Starmer will introduce nightly social media curfews for 16 and 17-year-olds as part of the Government's social media ban [@thetimes]

Big Tech abuses their market power 2stifle competition restrict consumer choice raise prices online American consumers pay the price Sen Klobuchar&I introd American Innovation& Choice Online Act 2ensure the worlds largest digital platforms play by the same rules as everyone else

Congress Shouldn’t Adopt European Economic Failures That Harm Americans WASHINGTON—Today, a few senators decided to resuscitate the failed American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA), which largely replicates failed economic policies from Europe that have contributed to the continent’s innovative stagnation. "AICOA remains a deeply flawed piece of legislation that punishes American success rather than targeting actual misconduct," said Amy Bos, NetChoice Vice President of Government Affairs. "By targeting a handful of companies based largely on their reach and popularity rather than demonstrated harm, this bill abandons the time-tested consumer welfare standard that has guided American antitrust law for decades. In its place, it installs a bloated regulatory framework that repeats the exact mistakes of Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).” Bos continued: "If passed, AICOA will directly degrade the tech products that Americans use and love. Many of the integrated features consumers rely on every day, from digital maps embedded in search results to pre-installed apps, seamless account integration, and built-in, industry leading security protections, could be legally challenged under AICOA. The result is not more innovation, but worse products that are less convenient, less secure and less useful." The DMA forces companies to redesign popular services based on regulatory preferences rather than the preferences of consumers—people who know what they and their families need. It also treats American innovators like piggy banks, extracting multi-million-Euro fines to fill their coffers. The United States should learn from Europe’s failed experiment, not import a bureaucratic regime that has generated massive compliance costs, product disruptions and deep uncertainty without delivering a meaningful benefit to everyday consumers. AICOA would hand a massive competitive advantage to our foreign rivals. At a time when the United States is locked in a fierce global competition in artificial intelligence and advanced technologies, Congress should not be imposing failed, heavy-handed restrictions on American innovators. Weakening domestic technology leaders risks ceding critical ground to foreign competitors, particularly those backed by adversarial governments that do not share America's commitment to free enterprise, privacy and free expression. Finally, AICOA chills the next generation of innovation. Every successful startup hopes to scale up and become the next great American technology company, but AICOA would tell entrepreneurs: if you become too successful, the government will single you out for special restrictions that do not apply to your competitors. That discourages investment in new ideas, reduces the incentive to innovate, and ultimately harms America’s entire economic ecosystem. Congress has tried and failed to pass this bill before. Each time, lawmakers have rightly recognized that AICOA would raise costs, reduce choices and weaken American competitiveness. Reintroducing it today doesn't magically fix its fundamental flaws. The Senate should set this bill aside for good and let American innovation keep doing what it does best: delivering for consumers. Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.

New - @SenAmyKlobuchar and @ChuckGrassley have reintroduced their re-worked American Innovation and Choice Online Act tonight.

Screen time is a problem. So is the fact that Big Tech profits from exposing children to addictive content online. My App Store Accountability Act holds Big Tech accountable and puts parents back in control of what their kids are exposed to online. today.com/video/surgeon-gene…

NetChoice Flags Serious Risks with Proposal to Partially Nationalize AI Labs, Warns of Harm to Innovation and Threats to Free Speech WASHINGTON — NetChoice, a leading tech industry association dedicated to defending free expression and free enterprise, today issued the following statement in response to recent suggestions that the Trump administration is facilitating some form of government ownership or control of private American artificial intelligence companies and labs. "America leads the world in technology because of the free market, not bureaucracy,” said @pat_hedger, NetChoice Director of Policy. “Forcing a government partnership or financial stake upon private AI labs mimics the socialist economic models of our adversaries, compromises the First Amendment, and establishes an unprecedented bureaucratic chokehold on American innovation.” "The free market is infinitely more agile and efficient than the federal government. Nationalizing America’s leading AI labs, even if only partially, would inject Washington bureaucracy into a hyper-competitive, fast-moving industry, stalling progress when we can least afford it. The global AI race is a competition of ideologies. To beat state-controlled models like China’s, we must lean into American free-market principles, not cripple our own tech leaders with European-style regulation or Beijing-style government control.” "If these plans materialize, unelected bureaucrats will inevitably leverage this financial control to influence labs and manipulate the free flow of information. When the state controls the labs, it controls the outputs. State intervention in frontier AI poses a direct threat to free speech, granting Washington the structural leverage to censor viewpoints and dictate how Americans access news, knowledge, and opinion.” “While the White House considers different ideas for how to best ensure America and everyday Americans are the winners in the global AI race, it should avoid the siren song of Bernie Sanders socialism and stick with the tried and true recipe that has kept America leading for 250 years: freedom.”

🚨 NEW: The second Makerfield by-election poll 🔴 LAB - 49% ( 6) ➡️ REF - 39% (-1) 🟣 RES - 8% ( 1) 🟢 GRN - 2% (-1) 🟠 LD - 1% (-3) 🔵 CON - 1% (-1) ⚪ OTHER - 1% (=) Via Survation, 518 sample, 26 May - 1 June