UK’s social media ban for teenagers may very well be revealed inside weeks as ‘drastic’ motion wanted
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall gave the strongest indication yet that millions of young people could be blocked from using apps like TikTok and Instagram until they are 16
Nine in 10 parents wanted a ban on social media for under 16s(Image: Getty Images)
A social media ban under-16s could be announced within weeks as the Technology Secretary said “drastic” action was needed to protect kids online.
While no final decision has been made, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall gave the strongest indication yet that ministers are preparing to block millions of young people from using apps like TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram until they are 16.
Nine in 10 parents who responded to the Government’s online safety consultation demanded Australia-style age limits, she revealed, adding that a ban was “definitely on the table”.
In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, Ms Kendall said: “It’s been a really overwhelming response from parents, and I think parents are crying out for help and support. They know that there are some good things that kids can get from it [social media] but they are worried about what they’re seeing.
“They are worried about the impact of the doom-scrolling, they’re worried about their kids if they are on their phones until late at night. They are worried that even if they try and put in some rules for their children, and other kids aren’t, it’s really hard.
“I think the fact that nine out of 10 parents who responded to the consultation want a social media ban for under 16s shows how strongly parents feel.”
More than 100,000 people responded to the consultation, including around 40,000 parents, which the Government must trawl through before it makes its final decision within weeks.
Asked if she was taking these views on board, she said: “A ban is definitely on the table, and I think for parents, they are crying out for help and support to do the right thing for their kids. That’s been a message that’s come across loud and clear.”
She added: “We haven’t yet made up our mind, but I think it’s quite clear that something drastic has to happen to provide the kind of support that parents want.”
The Tech Secretary has taken legal powers to implement her decision quickly – and said it would be pushed through “by the end of the year”.
Ministers have been looking at Australia, which became the first place in the world to ban social media for children under 16 in December. Several European countries, including France, Greece and Spain are weighing up similar laws.
Asked if the Australian system would work in Britain, Ms Kendall said: “Children and young people always try to get around smoking, drinking [rules], that’s always been the case. It doesn’t mean to say that you wouldn’t set rules. One of the things we are looking at is highly effective age verification measures, whether those can be strengthened.”
But she said young people needed to be prepared for the online world and pointed to a school in her Leicester constituency teaching pupils how to decide what to trust, and how to behave online.
Ms Kendall said many young people were well aware of the issues thrown up by social media but also struggled to deal with them. She said: “Our job as adults and parents, and as the Government, is to do more to help protect them and help prepare them for the future.”
The consultation looked at measures beyond the Australian ban, including issues like age restrictions on AI chatbots, stranger pairing and live streaming of computer games, and overnight curfews.
“It’s not either/or,” Ms Kendall said, when asked if other issues could be looked at alongside age restrictions.
Some prominent campaigners are sceptical of a ban, fearing it could create a false sense of security and push children to darker parts of the internet. Instead, they want tech giants to be forced to obey existing laws.
Ms Kendall insisted social media companies would never be absolved of their responsibilities, saying: “They will have to follow the existing law, which is no illegal content for anyone, and no harmful content can be on there for children. We’re not going to let them off the hook on that.”
She rejected criticism that politicians have been too weak to stand up to the tech giants, pointing to her decision to go to war with X over Grok, its AI tool, which had been creating nude deep fakes of women and girls without their consent.
She said: “The only people who have been weak are Reform. To scrap the Online Safety Act, I think is an absolute affront to British values… To take away all those protections that have taken eight years to put in place. I mean, they are the only people I can see who are kow-towing to big tech.”
Despite the challenges, Ms Kendall said there were huge advantages to technology like AI, citing examples in her own constituency of its use to speed up diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
But she said it had to be made safe for people, saying: “If they don’t trust this technology, they’re not sure what it’s doing to their kids, or indeed their jobs, they won’t want to use it, and if we don’t use it, we can miss out on the potential.”
