Government to hold consultation on Australian-style under-16s social media ban

Ministers are consulting on implementing an Australian-style social media ban on under-16s in the UK.

The consultation will look at options such as raising the age of digital consent and restricting potentially addictive app design features such as “lines” and “infinite scrolling”.

Calls are growing for the Prime Minister to raise the minimum age for social media platforms and No 10 has signaled it is open to the idea.

Later this week, the Lords will vote on an amendment to the Child Welfare and Schools Bill that will require social media platforms to block children under 16 from using their platforms within one year of the bill being passed.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said it would take immediate action over children’s use of social media, including instructing Ofsted to examine schools’ mobile phone policies and how effectively they are implemented during inspections.

The government will also produce screen time guidance for parents of children aged 5 to 16. It was stated that the guide for parents under five years of age will be published in April.

Ministers will visit Australia as part of a consultation where a social media ban on under-16s came into force in December.

DSIT said the Government would seek the views of parents and young people and the Government would respond in the summer.

But former schools minister Lord Nash said the consultation only represented further delay.

“This announcement offers nothing for the hundreds of thousands of parents, teachers, medical professionals, senior police officers, national security experts and MPs of all parties who have called for an increase in the age limit for social media,” said the Conservative peer who introduced the amendment to the House of Lords.

“The Prime Minister should have no doubt about the strength of his feelings on this issue. The longer we delay, the more children we fail. I continue to urge all my colleagues to support the change on Wednesday that will begin to end the catastrophic damage to a generation.”

Lord Nash’s amendment has already won the support of the National Education Union (NEU) and 61 Labor MPs, who have written to the Prime Minister calling for “urgent action”.

Kemi Badenoch has already said that the Conservative Party would impose a ban on people under 16 if they were in power.

Esther Ghey, whose 16-year-old daughter Brianna was murdered by two teenagers in 2023, said on Monday the ban would be a “vital step in protecting children online.”

In a letter to party leaders Sir Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Sir Ed Davey, Ms Ghey said her daughter had a “social media addiction” and “desperately wanted to be TikTok famous”, which left her “in constant fear of who Brianna might talk to online”.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: “Technology has huge potential to create jobs, transform public services and improve lives. But we will only unlock this potential if people know they and their children are safe online.”

“We are determined to ensure that technology enriches children’s lives and does not harm them, and to give every child the childhood they deserve.”

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “We have made it clear that mobile phones have no place in our schools, but now we are going further with tougher guidance and stronger enforcement. Mobile phones have no place in schools. No ifs, no buts.”

Conservative Party leader Ms Badenoch said the consultation was “further hesitation and delay” by Labor.

“The Prime Minister is trying to copy the announcement the Conservatives made a week ago but still can’t get it right,” he said.

“The damage social media is doing to children is undeniable and the Conservatives will take children away from these adult platforms altogether.

“On the contrary, this is further indecision and delay by Starmer and a Labor party completely out of ideas.”

Jess Asato, Labor MP for Lowestoft, said the consultation was a “good first step”, adding: “Parents and carers up and down the country are now calling for bold action and it is vital that the consultation does not simply table this issue.”

Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman Munira Wilson said there was “no time to waste protecting our children from social media giants” and that “this consultation risks being scrapped once again”.

He said the party was calling for movie-style age ratings to protect children “from toxic algorithms and harmful content, while also providing them with some of the benefits of being online.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “We welcome the news that the Government will take the time to properly consider the ban on social media for under-16s.

“It is important that we learn from other countries and consider the advantages of such an approach as well as its unintended consequences.

“The vast majority of schools already have restrictions on mobile phone use on school sites.

“The government’s suggestion that Ofsted should ‘inspect’ school policies is extremely unhelpful and misleading.

“School leaders need the support of the Government, not the threat of harsh inspections.”

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Ofsted involvement in monitoring these bans is all well and good, but it would be more helpful if the Government provided schools with resources to support the safe and secure storage of mobile phones.

“Most schools have a policy where students are asked to keep their phones in bags and out of sight, but this, of course, means teachers have to be constantly alert to students breaking the rules.

“There are products on the market that can be used to safely store mobile phones so they cannot be used.

“But this costs money and many schools are frankly completely cash strapped.”

Ian Russell, who founded the Molly Rose Foundation after his 14-year-old daughter Molly committed suicide by viewing harmful content on social media, said: “In the last few days parents have faced the wrong choice between a toxic status quo and a social media ban that has had unintended consequences and led to a false sense of security for parents.

“The Prime Minister must now commit to strengthening the Online Safety Act to address harmful and addictive design choices affecting a generation of children and make clear in law that protecting digital wellbeing is now the price of entry to the UK market.”

Lynn Perry, chief executive of Barnardo’s, said: “Making the internet safer for children must be a Government priority, so we welcome this consultation on possible measures and the impact they will have.

“We also welcome the announcement that young people will be taking part in the consultation as it is vital that their voices are heard on an issue that affects them so deeply.”