7 key particulars in social media crackdown plan – and the way it may have an effect on your youngsters
Children face a social media ban or restrictions on addictive apps under plans to boost safety online. Here The Mirror looks at what changes could be brought in
The children’s digital wellbeing consultation to gather evidence on the best solution to the online harms crisis(Image: Getty Images)
Children face a social media ban and restrictions on addictive apps under plans to boost kids’ safety online.
The Government will next month launch the children’s digital wellbeing consultation to gather evidence on the best solution to the online harms crisis.
The Online Safety Act brought in restrictions to stop children seeing illegal and harmful content online. But campaigners have long warned that the law is not strong enough and tech firms continue to act with impunity.
The three-month consultation will be guided by what parents and children say they need now, not in several years’ time. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has vowed to act swiftly once the consultation is finished, while Keir Starmer has said he will act in “months, not years” to protect young people from addictive social media.
The Mirror takes a look at what the Government is considering – and what could change for children online.
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1. Social media ban
Keir Starmer has faced mounting pressure to introduce a social media ban for under 16s after Australia did so last month. Earlier this month, Spain became the latest European country to make plans for a social media ban, following similar proposals France, Denmark and Austria. Different countries are exploring different age cut-offs for a ban.
More than 60 MPs and some bereaved parents have urged the PM to introduce a ban in the UK. But other bereaved families and experts have warned a ban could bring “unintended consequences” and drive kids into other unregulated spaces on the internet, like chatrooms or gaming platforms. They also want tech firms to make social media platforms safer to prevent a “cliff edge” when teens turn 16.
Ministers have said they are watching Australia closely and will follow where the evidence takes them.
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2. Curfews and app caps
The consultation is expected to look at phone curfews and app caps.
Tech Secretary Ms Kendall has previously signalled her interest in limiting children’s access to social media could to two hours per app or restricting access during school hours. Overnight curfews, such as blocking an app at 10pm until the morning, are also expected to be considered.
In an interview with The Mirror in November, Ms Kendall said she will look at “anything” and do “whatever it takes to keep kids safe online”. She took over the Science, Innovation and Technology brief in September from Peter Kyle, who is now the Business Secretary. Mr Kyle had previously suggested the social media restrictions to help tackle kids’ addiction to the online world.
3. Doom-scrolling
Restricting potentially addictive design features such as ‘streaks’ and ‘infinite scrolling’ will be considered as part of the consultation.
Streaks are achieved by consecutive daily interactions on a platform, while infinite scrolling is a design pattern where an app automatically loads as users scroll down a feed. The addictive nature of such designs means children can spend hours doom-scrolling on their phone.
While the Online Safety Act brought in restrictions on illegal and harmful content, ministers have admitted more needs to be done to ensure kids aren’t wasting their lives being sucked into addictive apps.
4. Gaming
Ms Kendall has raised concerns about children playing video games with strangers online.
She told The Mirror over the weekend: “A couple of things that we will be consulting on which are around your sort of services, certain features and functions that people are worried about like live streaming, and stranger pairing on games.
“For some types of games, young people can be paired with strangers. We’re really worried about that, so we’re going to consult on that and we’re going to have a power within this bill (Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill) to actually take action on it and put an age cap on that to say you are not allowed to have stranger pairings beneath it.”
5. Age of digital consent
The consultation will also consider increasing the digital age of consent.
This is the age at which a child may give consent to the processing of their personal data. Currently in the UK it is 13-years-old. Some campaigners have called for it to be raised to 16 to stop kids being targeted by addictive algorithms or having their data exploited by tech firms.
National Education Union chief Daniel Kebede is among those to have called for the digital age of consent to be raised to 16.
6. VPNs
The consultation will explore bringing in age restrictions or limiting children’s virtual private networks (VPNs) use where it undermines safety protections.
When online safety laws came into force last year, there was a surge in VPN downloads. People can get around the rules by using VPNs, which allow users to hide their real location.
Concerns have been raised that children and young people are using VPNs to get around important protections, such as age verification measures to block them from pornography.
7. AI chatbots
Ministers have already announced plans to close a legal loophole to protect children from harmful interactions with AI chatbots.
This follows government action to call out abhorrent non-consensual intimate images being created by Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok on X. The demands led to the function being removed.
As part of the consultation, the Government will also examine restrictions on children’s use of AI chatbots.
