The Under-16 Ban Dodges the Bigger Question
DAILY MELTS
6/15/2026
The Daily Melt
The Under-16 Ban Dodges the Bigger Question
Whether you agree with banning under-16s from social media or not, one thing seems fairly obvious: if I were a teenager today, getting around the restriction would probably become a badge of honour by lunchtime.
That does not mean the issue is not serious. It is. But the bigger question is being dodged.
Why do we still allow social media companies to operate to a lower public standard than broadcasters? A TV channel could not casually push graphic footage of killings, terror clips or people dying after accidents into a child’s view and then shrug because “the algorithm recommended it”.
Yet on social media, material no responsible editor would place in front of the public can be found in seconds, shared in minutes and monetised on the way.
If a platform designs the algorithm, profits from the traffic and controls the rules, responsibility should not sit mainly with the child, the parent, or a content moderator buried somewhere in the machinery.
It should sit visibly at the top.
The obvious question: why are we talking so much about banning children, and still not enough about holding platform directors personally responsible for the harm their algorithms distribute?