5 days ago
Liv McMahon,technology reporter,
Zoe Kleinman,technology editorand
Hugh Pym,health editor
Reuters
The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to take “decisive” action to tackle the impact of social media on UK children, as the government’s consultation on the matter draws to a close.
Sir Keir told families and campaigners who insist their children died as a result of social media use that “it is important that we act and will act”.
Speaking ahead of a meeting with them on Tuesday, the Prime Minister had said he was clear action must be a “game-changer” amid calls to ban social media for under-16s.
But some parents believe whether the government will take strong enough action remains to be seen.
“Am I confident? Definitely not,” said Ellen Roome, speaking to the BBC outside 10 Downing Street after a meeting with the prime minister.
“I think we’ve heard it so many times before,” she said – adding that until she sees change actually happen she will remain “sceptical”.
He told the BBC he would “like to believe” Sir Keir will take action but said at the moment the “same status quo” remains – with tech firms rolling out products including AI chatbots at pace.
Members of the group told reporters the meeting had been a “listening exercise” for the Prime Minister and they had “put it all out on the table” in a bid to effect change.
“We do not want this group to grow any further,” one parent said. “We want all our asks to be adhered to.”
Another added they “wanted no more children to die as a result of online harm”.
PA Media
Mariano Janin (left) and Ellen Roome were among the parents who spoke to the prime minister
It comes after former health secretary Wes Streeting joined those calling for a ban of under-16s from social media in the UK.
He said that big tech had used tactics similar to big tobacco in designing addictive platforms that posed harms to children.
“The precautionary principle should apply here,” he said – adding that the government should act quickly and the UK is “behind the curve” on the issue.
Streeting said he was now “liberated” to speak more freely about the issue since he quit his government post, but trusted Technology Secretary Liz Kendall “to act quickly following the closure of the consultation today”.
Kendall has said new measures for under-16s will be brought in by the end of 2026.
Consulting on measures
Banning social apps for under-16s, as has happened in Australia, is one of the options being considered.
Kendall said a response to the consultation would be published in the summer.
Campaigners are broadly split on whether an outright ban on social apps for children is the best approach.
Since March, the government has been asking parents and children if measures including app curfews and stronger age checks would improve online safety, and trialled these in some UK homes.
“The question isn’t whether we’re going to act – we will,” Kendall told the BBC.
She said the government’s scope was looking at a broad range of issues and features and how these affected children.
This could see the UK look more closely at platforms not covered by Australia’s restrictions, such as Roblox and Discord.
But Kendall said the government wanted to hear “all views” from the consultation, which closes at the end of Tuesday.
“We’ve got to get this right, and we’ve got to make it last,” she added.
The government is learning lessons from Australia’s social media ban, Liz Kendall told BBC Breakfast
The consultation has seen more than 80,000 submissions from charities, campaign groups and members of the public who have given their views on a ban or other interventions.
Government data obtained by the Press Association on Tuesday showed 42,410 parents and 13,890 young people have filled in the survey.
People were also asked for opinions on possible restrictions, including night-time curfews or features such as auto-play and infinite scroll being disabled.
A number of organisations, ranging from police leaders to children’s groups and trade bodies, have already shared views on what should be done.
Donya Soni-Clark, associate director of trade association TechUK, also told Today that “regulating by features, not by platform” would be the best way forward.
Meanwhile in a submission published on Tuesday, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, said doctors should routinely ask younger patients about their device and social media use.
Its response, which presented screen time and social media use as a parallel problem, also cited examples of physical and mental health issues caused by watching extreme violence online.
There is no consensus among the wider scientific community that screen time overall is harmful to children.
But Academy Chair Jeanette Dickson said that like smoking or seatbelts before, the issue had become a “unifying force” for the profession.
It is not the first time screen time and social media have been likened to smoking in posing risks to people’s health and wellbeing.
Streeting told Today that tech whistleblower testimonies over the years had highlighted similar industry practice and awareness of known harms.
“They know that the product they’re designing is addictive, they know that it is harmful, and the business model is orientated towards getting kids while they’re young,” he said.
Lord Nash, a former Conservative education minister, said the government had committed to parliament that it would introduce some age or functionality limits on social media for children.
He said it must “deliver on that commitment fully and in the shortest possible timeframe.”
Children in Australia tell UK kids how a social media ban has affected themBut some campaigners believe stopping social media access would fail children.
Ian Russell, chair of the online safety charity the Molly Rose Foundation, has previously said the government should enforce existing laws rather than bring in “sledgehammer techniques like bans”.
An open letter signed by child safety charities said the government should make tech firms align with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which determines film age ratings, to protect teens “in line with the same high standards applied to film released in UK cinemas”.
“Hundreds of millions of websites are already classified to our standards and filtered by the mobile network operators,” the BBFC’s Chief Executive, David Austin, told the BBC.
“Why can’t social media companies do the same in terms of their content? The answer is they can,” he said.
It is unclear which tech platforms have responded to the government’s consultation or proposals to ban social media for under-16s in the UK.
But Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has said it wants age verification to be handled on a device level, so underage children would be blocked from downloading certain apps.
Kendall told the BBC she would take action even if big tech pushes back.
“No one’s going to stop me from doing what I think is right for this country,” she said.
