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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Politics
John Besley

Harm of social media for children ‘like cancer risk of smoking’

Matt Jukes, the head of counter-terrorism policing (Danny Lawson/PA) - (PA Archive)

Britain’s head of counter-terrorism policing has called for Parliament to “explore” implementing age verification on social media sites as he compared the harm caused by social media to the “cancer” caused by smoking.

Giving evidence to The Times Crime and Justice Commission – a year-long project considering the most urgent problems facing police, prisons, courts and victims – Matt Jukes said his team had discussed a ban on social media use by children with colleagues in Australia, which passed world-first legislation on the issue last year.

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