Badenoch tells Starmer to ‘just get on’ with under-16s social media ban | Social media ban
Kemi Badenoch called on Keir Starmer to “continue” the social media ban on under-16s, saying the delay was a dereliction of duty that was damaging to children’s mental health.
After the government said it would consult on a social media ban on under-16s by the summer, the Conservative Party leader called on the prime minister to act faster “no matter how difficult it may be to implement”.
Badenoch’s comments will increase pressure on the government as peers prepare to vote on Wednesday on an amendment to the child welfare and schools bill that would bring the ban into force within a year of its passage. It is understood the government wants to wait to consider evidence on the Australian ban, which came into force in December.
Writing in the Guardian, Badenoch said the UK was producing a generation of children who struggle to concentrate and experience higher levels of anxiety due to exposure to social media.
Badenoch said restrictions on alcohol, the age of consent and protection in schools were in place to protect children while their brains were developing, but the government had “completely suspended that logic” when it came to social media. “We will not be bought by vague promises of a ‘national conversation’ on whether we should take kids off these adult platforms,” he said.
“The Prime Minister must explain how and when he will act. Baroness Kidron, who backed Conservative colleague Lord Nash’s amendment in the House of Lords, is right to say Starmer’s approach ‘does not lead, does not manage’. He is ‘doing nothing – bit by bit’, which is ‘the epitome of party before country’.
Let’s continue.”
He added: “Putting our children’s mental health first is the right thing to do. How long will we have to wait until the government agrees?”
The Conservatives made no move to ban social media during their time in government, but the Online Safety Act introduced greater obligations on internet and social media providers to protect children from harmful content.
But Badenoch said the consensus had changed, with campaigners, clinicians, parents and experts now opposing allowing under-16s access to social media. He also argued that some internet restrictions for adults could be lifted if children were better protected from social media.
“By restricting children’s use of social media, we not only protect children, we can also offer adults more freedom online,” he said. “We will no longer need to warp digital spaces to be universally ‘kid-friendly’ or impose blanket restrictions on speech and content because children may see it. If we stop treating children like adults, we can stop treating adults like children.”
He said his party believes in freedom, but the ability to make good choices is not yet fully developed in children who lack the necessary impulse control, emotional regulation and ability to assess risks.
On Sunday, the Guardian revealed that more than 60 Labor MPs, including select committee chairs, former frontbenchers and MPs from the left and right of the party, had called on Starmer to support a social media ban on under-16s.
In the letter, edited by Labor MP Fred Thomas for Plymouth Moor View, MPs say: “We are hearing the same message in all our constituencies: children are anxious, unhappy and unable to focus on learning. They are not developing the social skills they need to thrive and do not have the experiences that will prepare them for adulthood.”
On Wednesday, in another letter from campaigners urging parliament to support the ban, signatories included actors Hugh Grant and Sophie Winkleman and Esther Ghey, the mother of Brianna Ghey, who was murdered by two teenagers in Warrington, Cheshire, in 2023. A national survey by the charity Parentkind found that 93% of parents think social media is harmful to children and young people.
He said: “No other amendment to the bill on this issue has the same cross-party support or will immediately deliver the change needed to wean children off social media.”
