Why not ban children from Internet and messengers instead? We don't allow them to have alcohol, why should they have Internet? Probably because it won't give a King an excuse to read his subjects's private conversations.
We could start with locked devices (laptops and smartphones), that allow to use Internet with restrictions (e.g. visit only whitelisted sites, use whitelisted apps that support "kid mode", all contacts must be approved by parents or school, all chats should be moderated). The lock should be on a physical level and unremovable. All applications installed should support "kid mode", e.g. browser would refuse to visit unapproved sites.
Bringing unlocked devices to school should be not allowed, they should be confiscated.
This way kids will be in a safe, fully controlled environment.
The problem that Microsoft, Google and manufacturers do not want to invest in this. Meta doesn't want to create a kid version of Facebook, Microsoft doesn't want to make a locked version of Windows, Samsung doesn't want to make a locked phone, etc. You cannot show ads to kids, you cannot collect their data, so they are an unwanted audience, a nuisance.
Proposed ban on encryption doesn't prevent teenagers from typing "adult video" in Google. On a locked phone, a locked version of Google would show an educational video about an international economy for this query. Also, ban on encryption won't prevent a criminal from abroad from interacting with children.
