Starmer vows to fast-track social media law but says under-16s ban not definite | Social media ban

Keir Starmer has promised to take action on young people’s access to social media within “months, not years”, but said this did not mean a complete ban on access for under-16s.

Speaking at an event in London after the government vowed to expand a crackdown on AI chatbots that put children at risk, Starmer said the issue was nuanced and a ban was not definitive, noting concerns from charities such as the NSPCC.

“I think this is such an important issue that we need to address it with a ban as a possibility,” he told a community center in Putney, saying he would “definitely want to look at the evidence” collected during a three-month consultation.

He added: “There are strong arguments on both sides. Some just say take everyone under 16 off social media and that’s the end of it. The NSPCC, an organization very concerned with the protection of children, says no, it will push children into even darker places.”

“Others – I was with young people this morning, the 15- and 16-year-olds who are really going to be affected by this – they said to me, look, we get our news from social media, we don’t read newspapers, so you’re going to block our access to the news. We need to look at all of this across the board.”

Downing Street has tabled amendments to two bills currently passing parliament, the child welfare and schools bill and the crime and policing bill, and has announced plans to swiftly implement any proposed changes following consultation.

The plan is that these changes will give ministers powers to implement various plans, with the children’s bill covering social media and the crime bill closing potential loopholes linked to AI chatbots. Starmer said this would allow for rapid action.

“We got the powers to make sure we can take action in months, not years,” he said. “We also need to move very quickly, not only on the age concern, but also on devices and apps that auto-scroll, constantly sticking to the machine where you can never stop scrolling.”

He added: “I don’t think there’s a parent in the country who isn’t worried about this, by the way, I really don’t. The current situation is not good enough. Nobody can argue that things can be left as they are. They can’t, they won’t protect children and we intend to take action.”

When asked whether MPs and colleagues would have the chance to debate and vote on the details of any emerging policies, as well as changes that would simply strengthen them, Downing Street indicated that would be the case. “Both houses will need to approve secondary legislation to implement the policies,” Starmer’s official spokesman told reporters, pointing to the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) for details. DSIT has been contacted for comment.

Inside a previous article Starmer expressed his concerns about social media on his Substack page, stating that he believes social media in its current form harms children. “When Facebook was first founded in 2004, it was a pretty simple concept,” he wrote. “Create a profile, post updates that people can look at in the order they were posted, like and comment on what your friends say.

“This is a world away from the algorithms, endless scrolling, For You pages and private chats that make up the modern social media world. Over the past 20-plus years, social media has evolved to become something completely different from the simple, plain pages of its conception.

“And in that evolution, it has quietly become something that is harming our children. A harm that we allowed to happen because of the inaction of previous Conservative governments.”