PM summons TikTok, Meta, X bosses to No 10 to push for children’s online safety

Sir Keir Starmer will call senior figures from TikTok, X, Meta and other social media giants to Downing Street to go further to protect children as the Government weighs new restrictions.

The Prime Minister said Thursday’s talks would be about “ensuring social media companies step up and take responsibility” because failure to act would lead to “serious” consequences.

Senior leaders at Google, owner of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, Elon Musk’s

The meeting comes amid the Government’s consultations on how to protect children online, which could include an Australian-style social media ban for under-16s, limits on addictive features and stronger controls on AI chatbots.

Ministers are under constant pressure to follow Australia’s lead as opposition MPs seek to press ahead with Tory MP John Nash’s amendment banning under-16s from platforms deemed most harmful to the Child Welfare and Schools Bill, which returns to the House of Commons in the final “ping pong” stages of parliamentary scrutiny.

Sir Keir had previously hesitated to support an outright ban but signaled he would take action to block features such as infinite scrolling that keep young users glued to social media.

Ahead of the talks, the Labor leader said: “Social media is shaping how children see themselves, their friendships and the world around them. “When it comes to these real risks, looking the other way is not an option.

“Parents rightly expect action, and action quickly, so by the time our consultations have concluded we have already received the powers needed to act quickly.

“I will take whatever steps necessary to keep children safe online. Today is about making sure social media companies step up and take responsibility.

“The consequences of failure to act are severe. We owe it to parents and future generations to put children’s safety first, because they won’t forgive us if we don’t.”

Some social media firms have already stepped up protective measures such as disabling autoplay for younger users, giving parents more control over screen time and introducing curfews, but No 10 said the Prime Minister had said they needed to go further.

The ban on under-16s was met with reaction from the industry when Google’s UK boss warned that this was not the “right approach” and could push children into more dangerous corners of the internet.

“We believe blanket bans take choice out of parents’ hands and remove children from regulated areas,” Kate Alessi, managing director and vice president of Google UK and Ireland, told the Press Association last month.

Lord Nash, the former Conservative schools minister, said recent cases in the US, which found social media platforms were responsible for designing addictive platforms and exposing children to harmful content, were a “game changer” as they introduced age limits.

The government has pledged to act quickly when the Growing in an Online World consultation session ends on 26 May, with changes due to be made within a few months.

More than 45,000 responses have already been received, including nearly 6,000 young people, according to Downing Street.

On Wednesday evening, MPs rejected a second proposal from the House of Lords to impose an immediate social media ban on under-16s.

Peers have twice voted to impose an age limit on the Children’s Welfare and Schools Bill, but both efforts failed in the House of Commons.

Education Secretary Olivia Bailey said: “Instead of the narrow change proposed in the House of Lords, our consultations allow us to consider a much wider range of services and features.”

Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, responded by calling on Sir Keir to “remain firmly committed to strengthening regulations to make unsafe and addictive design a thing of the past.”

Ellen Roome, who believed her 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died trying to challenge an online challenge, criticized the meeting as a “stunt”.

He said: “Photo opportunities in Downing Street do nothing to protect children. I wrote to the Prime Minister and he didn’t bother to reply.”

“Social media companies have sat in rooms with parents like me — parents who have lost children — and heard exactly what their platforms are doing. They’ve heard it in meetings, they’ve heard it in courtrooms. And they’re still doing nothing. This meeting will be no different.”

“This is simply a ploy designed to ignore the fact that the Government has told its own MPs to vote against raising the age limit.

“The Prime Minister says he will take all necessary steps to protect children, but in fact the only step within his power is to take immediate action to raise the age limit for harmful social media to 16. My message to the Prime Minister is clear: we don’t need more meetings, we just need leadership.”