The British government may impose a ban on under-16s using social media, despite Labour prime minister Keir Starmer having previously expressed skepticism over the measure.
Yesterday, a group of 61 Labour backbench MPs published an open letter supporting a ban similar to the one in Australia. They wrote: “The onus must be placed on technology platforms, not parents, to prevent underage access,” adding that “public support for this approach is strong.”
The government could enable a ban by supporting an opposition amendment to legislation going through the House of Lords, the UK Parliament’s amending chamber, which is likely to be considered later this week.
Conservative life peer Baron John Nash’s amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill would “require all regulated user-to-user services to use highly-effective age assurance measures to prevent children under the age of 16 from becoming or being users.”
It would also instruct the UK’s four chief medical officers to prepare and publish advice on children’s use of social media at different ages.
The amendment was sponsored by Baroness Hilary Cass, a crossbench (independent) peer and pediatric doctor who led a damning government-commissioned review of NHS gender identity services for children and young people.
In an article in The Times, Baroness Cass wrote that coroners and clinicians can see how social media is damaging children: “The evidence is not emerging, it has arrived. We are not waiting to see if harm will occur, we are watching it unfold every day.”
The amendment was also sponsored by Baroness Floella Benjamin, a former children’s television presenter and a Liberal Democrat life peer.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch supports banning both social media for the under-16s and smartphones in schools. “We tell children what to do all the time. Children are not adults. Freedom is for adults,” she said last week.
Australia’s ban on under-16s holding active social media accounts came into force in December. The Australian government conceded the measure can be avoided by under-16s not logging into services or by using someone else’s account, with prime minister Anthony Albanese comparing it to underage drinking laws that set a standard even through they can be circumvented.
Starmer’s government has made a number of policy U-turns since coming to power in July 2024. Last week it dropped its plan, announced by the prime minister in September last year, to require British citizens to obtain a digital identity card to access employment by the end of the current Parliament. ®