By Santiago Bracho
This article is being published to coincide with International Day of Education 2026, with the theme: The power of youth in co-creating education (24 January)
The UK government has announced it is considering a social media ban for all users under 16. It follows the 2025 ban implemented by the Australian government and announcements by the Danish and French governments, among others, that they plan similar policies. These bans have been promoted to safeguard children from abuse, data theft and scams across social media platforms.
The proliferation of online media resources, such as language-learning models, has made education on the subject even more critical. A lack of adequate education on the use and ramifications of language learning models, alongside the call for social media bans, risks leaving young people excluded from key developments in digital media. Notably, in April 2025, an Ofcom report found that the groups which face “digital disadvantages” are most likely to be ethnic minorities, disabled, and people in irregular housing.
The paradox, therefore, becomes how can young people, particularly from all these affected backgrounds, have better digital education and agency within the digital field if they are being banned from a key digital platform such as social media?
The Future and Challenges of Digital Education
The need for greater education on language learning models, machine learning, and automated digital tools, commonly referred to as ‘AI’, has been a growing concern in the UK and Europe.
A 2026 Guardian report on education and young people revealed a decrease in students choosing computing. The current argument seems to be that AI models will create coding without the need for a technician. Nevertheless, the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a UK charity focused on improving young people’s digital media literacy and technological access, has criticised this short-sighted view.
Raspberry Pi Foundation’s chief executive director Philip Colligan raises the key concern that “there will be a gap between kids based on their socioeconomic background” if computing and coding are not part of a compulsory education. Thus, children from more economically prosperous backgrounds will have greater access to AI systems, as well as to the understanding of how these systems work. This is a gap the foundation has tried to fill. Examples include the creation of the website Flow Buddy, which seeks to tackle period poverty by connecting women in the UK to the nearest charity that provides sanitary products. All the creators were trained in coding and were under 18.
Colligan proposes more education in coding and AI for children from lower-income backgrounds to increase their access to the digital field. If this call is not heeded, it could harm access to digital media development.
Young People’s Right to Media
In Australia, the Digital Freedom Project (DFP), alongside two 15-year-old activists, has legally challenged the under-16s social media ban in the country’s highest court. Macy Newland, one of the activists, argues the ban removes young people’s ability to “engage in the public discourse and democracy by removing their ability to participate in it fully”.
This removal of engagement particularly affects disabled younger people. Jennifer Crowther, an Australian mother, told DW News the ban has interrupted “continued connection, which could happen through social media” for her movement-impaired daughter.
Anda Bologa, a senior researcher at the Centre for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), who wrote in opposition to social media bans for under-16s, posits, “Authoritarian governments love identity-linked access for control. When democracies normalise large-scale age verification, they legitimise a dangerous model.” Additionally, she argues it could lead to a precedent of instituting media bans across “video platforms, AI companions and gaming mechanics” further separating young people from key digital media.
An alternative: How to promote media literacy for young people
The need to involve young people in key decisions regarding their digital rights and development in digital media literacy and education should not be ignored.
A positive example of youth engagement with technology is the European Commission-funded MDI Global project, PODCast, which sought to enhance digital literacy by using podcasts to foster non-formal education on digital skills, well-being, and other issues relevant to young people. Through surveys in six countries, the project found that “86% [of the young people surveyed] believe podcasting is a powerful tool for expressing thoughts and emotions”. However, around 60% of young people interviewed claim they lack “the technical skills” to engage and create their own podcasts.
The PODCast project sought to fill this skill gap and to encourage young participants, many from ethnic minority and disadvantaged backgrounds, to tackle key subjects relevant to them.
As Aleksandar Dokic, a key project organiser, states, “In one segment of the questionnaire, they shared the topics they were interested in, as well as what they needed in order to start a podcast”. Yasmina, one of the young creators of the Spanish podcast VocesOn, noted that a key aim of the podcast was to provide a safe space for young people to discuss mental health. Young people were not only taught the technical skills to produce podcasts but were also encouraged and advised on how best to tackle and discuss these subjects through their unique perspective.
The PODCast project’s objective to help young people from diverse backgrounds echoes calls in the UK for improved computing and digital education. AI, social media and podcasts are all key developments in the digital world.
Social media bans, therefore, could prove to further alienate young people from key digital developments. Contrastingly, compulsory education and funding for online, youth-created content could provide younger people, especially from poorer backgrounds, with digital skills, media literacy and the ability to create thoughtful digital content.
Projects and initiatives to improve digital media literacy and education must be promoted for young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to foster social involvement and give them a stronger foothold in a more socially conscious media space.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Media Diversity Institute. Any questions or comments should be addressed to the editor at [email protected] of the Media Diversity Institute (MDI).
