The UK launches a consultation on whether to ban under-16s from using social media, alongside restrictions on addictive app features like infinite scrolling
Move comes as peers prepare to vote on an amendment to a bill that would enact a ban within a year of the bill passing
The Guardian Kiran Stacey
Related Coverage
- More than 60 Labour MPs urge Starmer to back under-16s social media ban The Guardian
- Labour to draw up plans for banning under-16s from social media The Times
- Ministers to launch consultation on Australia-style under-16s social media ban Sky News
- Labour plans to ban under-16s from social media Telegraph · Charles Hymas
- UK government considering social media ban for children Financial Times · Daniel Thomas
- UK to consult on social media ban for under 16s BBC · Laura Cress
- Government to drive action to improve children's relationship with mobile phones and social media GOV.UK
- Keir Starmer Considers Under-16 Social Media Ban That Could Require ID Checks for All UK Users Reclaim The Net · Cindy Harper
- Social media bans are a blunt and simplistic response to the legitimate demands from parents to act in the face of preventable harm. … Andy Burrows
Discussion
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@douglascarswell
Douglas Carswell
on x
The party that gave us the Online Safety law has learned nothing.
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@charleshymas
Charles Hymas
on x
Banning social media for under 16s will not work and could put children at greater risk of harm, the father of Molly Russell has said @leicesterliz @Keir_Starmer @KemiBadenoch @mollyroseorg @_andyburrows @NSPCC @5RightsFound @PoliceInspForum @DamianCollins @DannyShawNews
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@lauratrottmp
Laura Trott MP
on x
Momentum is shifting fast towards a social media ban for u16s. The Government should act. Credit to the Labour MPs calling for action, alongside parents, teachers & health professionals who want change. We can do this. Labour must back our amendment on Wednesday.
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@richardwellings
Richard Wellings
on x
A reminder that Britain is effectively a one-party state on the agenda to impose digital IDs, destroy online privacy and undermine freedom of speech. Similar policies are in the pipeline across the West, so this has been ordered from above and they're just the puppets.
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@davidghfrost
David Frost
on x
All the worst decisions in this country get taken when Govt and Opposition agree and actual debate is squeezed out. There was a time when the Tory party would have considered endorsement of their proposals by Labour and by public sector lobbyists as a red flag, not a reason to
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@kemibadenoch
Kemi Badenoch
on x
It tells you everything that Labour MPs support Conservative plans to restrict social media for under-16s. The evidence is clear. The harm is real. And yet Keir Starmer still doesn't have the backbone to act. Parents need our support in protecting children from adult spaces.
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@prestonjbyrne
Preston Byrne
on x
Very strange seeing myself and the Molly Rose Foundation on the same side of a political question, but they're right: a social media ban doesn't make anyone safer.
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@landeur
@landeur
on x
What the British State is doing is very obvious here. They are building problems, deliberately, that require a Digital ID to be the solution. It's called manufacturing consent. Illegal working? If only we had Digital ID. Proving you're 16 for social media? If only we had...
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@rupertlowe10
Rupert Lowe MP
on x
I absolutely back a ban on social media for under 16s, IF the parents agree. It's not for the Government to decide, it's for mums and dads. Here's a mad idea. Why don't we let parents parent? THEY know best. A ban is unworkable and total state overreach. AGAIN.
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@togetherdec
@togetherdec
on x
@LauraTrottMP Not even kids safety organisations think banning social media for U16s is a good idea [image]
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@richardwellings
Richard Wellings
on x
Age verification is being used as a pretext to impose digital IDs and to crack down on online anonymity. They also want to stop children seeing viewpoints that challenge the propaganda they learn at school and from establishment media. So it's yet another assault on our freedom.
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@lukeaaronmoore
Luke
on x
This is literally the least controversial policy available to the government at this point, and they should just get it done, post-haste. Seriously, tell me a single argument against it.