Earlier this month the country blocked millions of young people accessing the platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit and Twitch
A majority of voters support an Australia-style ban on social media for children under 16.
Earlier this month the country blocked millions of young people accessing the platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter ), YouTube, Reddit, Kick (a streaming platform), and Twitch (another streaming platform). A Mirror poll found 64% of people support a similar ban for under 16s while just 19% of voters oppose the idea.
Now Scottish Labour MP and Chair of the Children’s Online Safety APPG Joani Reid has warned ministers “the status quo is failing children”. She told The Sunday Mirror: “These figures show the public is well ahead of the political debate. “Parents can see the harm unregulated social media is doing to children and they want action.
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“Australia has been prepared to act in the interests of young people rather than tech giants and the UK should be open to doing the same. A ban for under-16s would not be about punishment or control but about basic safeguarding, setting boundaries and giving children space to grow up without constant online pressure. Doing nothing is no longer a neutral option. The status quo is failing children and the public knows it.”
There have been numerous calls to ban social media for teenagers, with the mum of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey previously calling for a smartphone ban at all schools. Ms Ghey says she wants children under-16s to be banned from social media and have smartphones with no access to networking apps.
There had also been calls to prevent children accessing dangerous material from Ian Russell, whose 14-year-old daughter Molly took her own life after being bombarded with harmful material on social media. Nearly every UK child over 12 has a mobile and almost all watch videos online, according to Ofcom.
As a backbencher, Children’s Minister Josh MacAlister put forward a Private Member’s Bill last year including a ban for under-16s, but then watered it down in order to get government support for other aspects of the bill.
Labour MP Jess Asato had backed Mr McAlister’s bill, and claimed the process of it had made the dangers clear. She said: “We heard from a huge range of child experts, including those from medical professions like the Royal Colleges and what was very clear was that there’s a huge host of areas of harm that social media is connected to for children.
“Children have had unfettered access to social media for many years, and the harms include being more likely to experience anxiety, depression and self-harm. We know that children are being exposed to very violent content, sometimes beheadings, shootings and killings.
“We know that there are even physical impacts that are affecting children, an increase in myopia, so short sightedness, it’s harming children’s eyesight as they develop and we know that it can lead to things like lack of sleep and addictive behaviours.”
Keir Starmer has previously suggested he is against a ban – but the government is closely monitoring the roll-out of the policy in Australia.
Ms Asato, the MP for Lowestoft, suggested the Government could be left behind on the issue by other countries. She said: “I very much believe that the government should look seriously at what Australia has done. Malaysia is the next country that is looking to do that in the new year and we know a whole host of other European countries are looking at this too, including Denmark.
“The UK is a leader in child protection online with the Online Safety Act which came into force this year. We really want to be able to lead the world in the protection of children, but we will fall behind if we don’t look very seriously at introducing the 16-ban.”
Daisy Greenwell, co-founder and director of Smartphone Free Childhood said: “The public gets it. Parents get it. Even teenagers get it. Social media is too powerful and too addictive to be left unregulated for children. Australia has shown leadership – now the UK needs to decide whether it stands with families and children, or continues to protect the profits of the world’s most powerful tech companies.”
Children’s charity the NSPCC claimed social media could be “greatly beneficial” to young people, and declined to back a ban.
NSPCC Chief Executive Chris Sherwood said: “It is vital young people are protected from the deeply concerning harm that takes place on social media, but we believe blanket bans take a blunt approach – undermining teenagers’ rights and driving them to unregulated spaces online which exposes them to even greater risk. We must not punish young people for the failure of tech companies to create safe experiences online.”
Responding to the polling, a Government spokesperson said: “There are no current plans for a blanket ban. But we will closely monitor how other countries approach this issue, including Australia. We’ve already taken some of the boldest steps globally to make sure online content is genuinely age appropriate.
“For example, under the Online Safety Act we’ve mandated that social media companies protect under-18s from harmful content such as self-harm and suicide. These measures strike the right balance: protecting children from harm while ensuring they can benefit safely from the digital world.”
Deltapoll interviewed 1,997 British adults online between 16th December to 18th December 2025. The data have been weighted to be representative of the British adult population as a whole.