With parliamentary recess looming and Andy Burnham due to become prime minister, ministers have had little time to decide much beyond the overall thrust of the policy around restricting social media for children.
The two people cited above said the update later this week won’t include any further information about the official definition of “social media” or exempt services.
While the government has already confirmed that household names including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram will be included in its ban for under-16s, the criteria floated so far — “capturing user to user platforms, whose purpose is to enable social interaction, which allow users to post material alongside algorithms” — is broad enough that smaller platforms, including Wikipedia, fear they could be in scope if the definitions aren’t carefully drafted.
“Wikipedia is the dolphin caught in the fishing net. You want to catch certain behaviors, certain platforms, but actually, your net isn’t fit for purpose,” Jan Gerlach, director of public policy at the Wikimedia Foundation told POLITICO.
DSIT did not immediately respond when contacted by POLITICO.