Today on the PRmoment Podcast we’re talking to Battenhall founder Drew Benvie - asking if social media be banned.

Battenhall is a social-first agency with 120 employees and won Large Agency of the Year at The PRmoment Awards 2024.

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2 mins Does Drew think social media will be banned?

“There are parts of the world, and demographics around the world, who cannot access social media. What we’re seeing is the increased regulation of social media for safety reasons.”

4 mins Social media has had a 20 year experiment phase and, perhaps with regret, the downsides outweigh the upsides - therefore should it be banned?

5 mins Has social media had a positive or negative effect on society?

6 mins How has social media changed the world for the better?

“There are people who make a positive contribution to society who do that through social media.”

9 mins What might regulation of social media look like?

The UK’s Online Services Act will come into effect in 2025, the EU's Digital Services Act came into force in February 2024 and in the US the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates social media.

In China, many of the West’s social media channels are banned. It has its own versions.

“For social networks in China you have real name registration, which means your legal identity is your identity on the social network. And then the government regulates your use of that social network. So there is a teen version of every social network…”

“This regulation (in China) has been brought in for fears of addiction to social media, addiction to phones and it’s been brought in for video gaming as well.”

“Some of the lessons that China is learning (about teen access to technology) is starting to spread to other parts of the world in terms of the regulation.”

14 mins Why the problem the West will have with social media regulation is that we don’t have real name registration.

“Without stricter registration rules for the Apps and the social networks the limits on age usage are not going to be fit for purpose."

“Concerns over safety have largely led to the advertiser exodus from Twitter.”

“We’re going to see that if a social network is not taking safety seriously, it will be banned from a country and Brazil set a precedent for that.”

18 mins Do we believe governments will stand up to the social media companies, bearing in mind the seemingly infinite number of lobbyists they seem to have?

19 mins Without real person registration is social media regulation even possible? Bearing in mind AI, bots and disinformation.

“In the not too distant future we will be in a safer place.”

“OFCOM is going to be tasked with the regulation of the Online Safety Act.”

25 mins Would a Social Media Operating License Scheme work, where the social media companies bid for a limited number of licenses?

26 mins The definition of social networks has broadened. Is WhatsApp really a social network? Is it not really a messaging service? And what is the impact of this broadening of social media on any potential regulation.