Social media debate decides Donald Dewar semi-finalists

Semi-final teams are preparing for the penultimate stage of this year’s Donald Dewar Memorial Debating tournament next week, after debating the merits of social media verification.

Only two of the 16 spots remain up for grabs ahead of the semi-finals taking place on Thursday, 6 March. Four teams will then progress to the final in June.

The motion for the nearly-completed second round of the Law Society of Scotland tournament is: ‘This House believes that social media companies should be required to verify the identities of their users’.

Strong arguments in favour so far have included that verifying users would enhance the safeguarding of children, while those arguing against have raised concerns around platforms accessing personal data.

The Law Society of Scotland’s Careers and Outreach Officer, Megan McDonald, said: “A huge well done to all our second round teams, and wishing our semi-finalists the best of luck!

“As we celebrate 25 years of the tournament, it’s been lovely to see such overwhelmingly positive feedback from our judges. It’s a testament to the hard work each pupil puts in to crafting their arguments.”

Tessa Vincent, a solicitor at Highland Council who judged one of the completed second-round heats, said: “The standard of debating was exceptional. You could put the students into a real-life court setting tomorrow and the arguments they'd be able to present wouldn't be out of place.

“It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening! The level of talent was quite astonishing for pupils of that age group."