Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy today ruled out Britain copying Australia’s ban on under-16s using social media as she suggested it would be ‘unenforceable’.
Australia this week became the first country in the world to ban social media for children with sites ordered to take steps to prevent under-16s accessing accounts.
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube are among those facing fines of up to 49.5million Australian dollars (£24.7million) if they don’t comply with new legislation.
Ms Nandy on Tuesday said the UK Government would be ‘keeping a very close eye’ on the implementation of Australia’s ban.
But the Cabinet minister suggested Labour would not introduce similar measures in Britain.
‘We’re obviously keeping a very close eye on the way that this is playing out in Australia,’ she told Sky News.
‘Because we know that young people are really struggling with the amount of time that they spend online and what is happening to them online.’
But asked whether she thought the ban would be a good idea, Ms Nandy told Times Radio: ‘We don’t think so.
‘We asked young people what they thought about it, and the overwhelming response was concerns about enforceability.
‘Are we seriously saying that we’re going to start prosecuting young people for going on social media?’
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy ruled out Britain copying Australia’s ban on under-16s using social media as she suggested it would be ‘unenforceable’
Australia this week became the first country in the world to ban social media for children with sites ordered to take steps to prevent under-16s accessing accounts
Ms Nandy indicated the Government could change its approach if the ban ended up enjoying support among young people
‘Yes, we certainly would consider it, not only if it worked, but if young people… believed that it was working and trusted that that was a solution,’ she told BBC Breakfast.
New data has shown children in the UK aged between eight and 14 are spending an average of nearly three hours online each day and also turning to their devices late at night.
Teenagers aged from 13 to 14 are using their smartphones, tablets or laptops for around four hours a day, while eight and nine-year-olds are online for two hours, and 10 to 12-year-olds for around three hours, figures revealed.
Ofcom’s latest online nation study, which did not include use of game consoles, also found youngsters were spending a ‘significant amount’ of time online on phones and other devices late into the night, describing such use as ‘not unusual’ in 2025.
Some 15 per cent to 24 per cent of time spent by those aged eight to 14 on YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok and WhatsApp – the four main services used by the age group – happened between 9pm and 5am, with 4 per cent to 10 per cent taking place between 11pm and 5am.
Data collected through the children’s passive online measurement 2025 research revealed about two-thirds (64 per cent) of the age group used their smartphone, tablet or computer between 11pm and 5am at least once over a four-week period.
Ofcom found about nine out of ten children (91 per cent) aged eight to 17 in the UK were happy with their online activity.
Almost three-quarters (72 per cent) of 13 to 17-year-olds say social media platforms help them feel closer to friends while 69 per cent go online to support their wellbeing, with 78% saying the internet helps with schoolwork and more than half (55 per cent) using it to learn new skills.
Ofcom said some of the children they spoke to also felt the negative impact of ‘brain rot’ from endlessly scrolling online on smartphones.
It stated: ‘The term ‘brain rot’ was used by some children to describe both a genre of content and the feeling that spending hours on their devices left them with.
‘Brain rot content is characterised by its frenetic, choppy and nonsensical nature, leaving viewers feeling overstimulated and sometimes disoriented.
‘Some of the children expressed negative feelings associated with spending excessive time online and engaging with this type of content.’