Social media ban for under-16s ‘not the right approach’, says Google boss 

A landmark court case in the US last week saw Facebook owner Meta and Google found liable for a woman’s childhood social media addiction through deliberately designing addictive products. File picture

A ban on social media for under-16s is not the “right approach” and could push children towards more dangerous and unsupervised corners of the internet, Google’s UK boss has warned.

Kate Alessi, managing director and vice-president of Google UK and Ireland, said the tech giant, which owns YouTube, is not supportive of “blanket bans” amid growing calls for governments to stop children having access to social media.