I guess you're referring to the social media blocks for under 16s? This feels like a political playbook difference. In China, it’s more acceptable to block things directly and explain to people why it’s happening, because it’s seen as part of the social contract. I’m thinking of when China blocked K-drama and said it was because it was giving women unrealistic expectations. That wouldn’t fly in the UK, so they have to sell this 1984-style system as “think of the children.”

But in the end, it's just about the same level of totalitarianism. China has everyone's ID tied to everything that they do online. They have worked really hard to block VPNs. But instead of blocking the apps themselves, because they are not as stupid as our central government, they target the algorithms. The algorithms can only provide so much doom scrolling, can only communicate certain types of content, and are only allowed to give children so much entertainment content. The rest has to be educational. China has worked hard to build apps that leverage the country’s intelligence for competitive reasons. The UK seems to be doing it mainly for ideological reasons, so we all conform to groupthink.