Starmer’s ‘child protection’ law is an assault on press freedoms

Keir Starmer’s new ban on under-16s using social media — just as with the supposed ‘Online Safety Act’ (OSA) — does nothing to protect children. In fact, it will harm many and put others at risk as they try dangerous routes to bypass the ban. Furthermore, it will have an enormous chilling effect on meaningful journalism. It will also chill resistance to the authoritarian state he is building for fascist Reform to inherit.

Starmer wages war on journalism

How does the ban wage war on journalism? Because it is designed to make anonymity impossible and works hand in hand with Starmer’s Digital ID scam and the OSA to tighten the noose. Privacy specialist Glenn Meder wrote an X thread illustrating how it works. Meder is based in the US, but the same principles apply to Starmer’s lawfare:

2/ The law requires age verification for all social media platforms.

It’s sold to us for the purpose of “Protecting children from online predators.”

Every account now requires government-issued ID verification. Full legal name. Date of birth. Biometric scan.

No more anonymous…

— Glenn Meder (@GlennMeder) June 3, 2026

4/ Across the country, investigative journalists are hitting the same wall.

A journalist tries to report on police misconduct. An officer has evidence. Illegal searches. Planted evidence. But they will not meet in person. Every digital platform requires ID verification. Every…

— Glenn Meder (@GlennMeder) June 3, 2026

No more Watergates

Without anonymity, any whistleblower has to accept the exposure of his or her identity and the likely destruction of their life. Meder goes on to illustrate how, in Starmer’s dystopian UK, journalism will be limited to the client hackery and stenography of the so-called ‘mainstream’. ‘MSM’ journalists need access. They know they’ll lose it if they challenge narratives and expose lies. So they don’t:

6/ This is why privacy is the foundation of all other rights.

Without privacy, there is no freedom of the press. Because journalists cannot protect sources.

Without privacy, there is no freedom of speech. Because every word you say is monitored and tied to your identity.…

— Glenn Meder (@GlennMeder) June 3, 2026

Anti-resistance Trojan horse

The same goes for resistance and protest. The UK state has launched a flood of raids and assaults on peaceful protest. Even meetings to plan non-violent protest have been hit as the regime seeks to criminalise all forms of resistance. The ‘Filton 4’ were sentenced as terrorists last week. Their sentences were increased specifically because they tried not to be identified or arrested as they tried to prevent an Israeli weapons-maker helping Israel slaughter civilians.

Starmer’s ban affects TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, X, Reddit, Facebook, Twitch, Kick and Threads. He is combining it with planned prison sentences for any tech CEOs who refuse to impose the same ID requirements on messaging apps like Telegram and WhatsApp. Once again this is disguised as ‘protecting children’.

Keir Starmer doesn’t care about children. He has assisted Israel’s slaughter and starvation of hundreds of thousands of them in Gaza. He had to be forced to overturn a Tory benefits limit. That limit put hundreds of thousands of UK children into poverty and hunger. Furthermore, he has worked with and protected paedophiles and sex offenders and their enablers.

But he is perfectly willing to exploit the idea of protecting children to advance his war on privacy, journalism and resistance.

Intended consequence

All this is no ‘unintended consequence’. Meder continues:

8/ They do not want journalists exposing corruption. They do not want whistleblowers revealing fraud. They do not want investigators holding power accountable.

They want to operate in the dark. Without scrutiny. Without accountability. Without anyone able to expose what they are…

— Glenn Meder (@GlennMeder) June 3, 2026

Cui bono?

The Latin phrase ‘cui bono‘ means who benefits. It’s the classical equivalent of ‘follow the money’ — find the people who really benefit from a crime. Meder points out that those who benefit from ‘protecting children’ are exactly the people who most need to be exposed – and who most endanger children:

10/ This is happening right now.

Online child safety laws are passing in state after state. Every single one requires age verification. Every single one mandates Digital ID systems. Every single one makes anonymous accounts illegal.

Journalists are already seeing sources…

— Glenn Meder (@GlennMeder) June 3, 2026

Make no mistake — Starmer doesn’t care a fig for your children or their protection. But he and his handlers — the security-services and Israel lobby — care very much about killing inconvenient speech and any form of resistance to the crimes they want to commit.

Featured image via the Canary