Keir Starmer has vowed swift action after a consultations on measures to protect kids on social media closes, with growing calls to bring in an Australia-style ban for under-16s
Keir Starmer faces a crunch decision over whether to ban children from using social media – with a bereaved mum demanding swift action.
The PM vowed to act “very, very quickly” as a consultation on measures to make platforms safer for youngsters closed. Calls are mounting for sites like Snapchat, Instagram and X to be unavailable to under-16s after Australia brought in a similar policy.
On Tuesday former Health Secretary Wes Streeting added his name to the growing number calling for a ban, while medics likened screen time and social media to smoking.
Supporters of the move say it would be the most effective way of shielding children from dangerous content. Ellen Roome, who believes her son Jools Sweeney, 14, died while attempting an online challenge, said: “I, and other families who have lost children to social media, will tell the Prime Minister directly – social media is a product and like any other faulty product causing the deaths of children, it should be restricted until the companies responsible have fixed it and proven it is safe.
READ MORE: Dad of schoolgirl who took own life warns social media ban could cost more livesREAD MORE: Judge’s decision not to jail teen rapists to go to Court of Appeal after outcry, Keir Starmer announces
“We cannot go on with further speculation – we need clarity.” Mr Starmer met with the devastated families of youngsters whose deaths have been linked with social media in No10 on Tuesday.
He told them: “It is important for me to hear from you and to listen to all of you. I have read the stories of all your family members. It is important that we act and we will act. I can absolutely assure you of that.”
Earlier the PM told reporters: “I’m absolutely clear that this needs to be something where there’s a game changer.
“So we will be acting. The question is only what we do. And that will be coming very quickly. Because we took powers earlier this year to make sure we can act very, very quickly.
“So the consultation will finish, we will then act and we will be decisive. It’s absolutely clear to me that we need to take action to protect children and we can act quickly.”
It comes after Mr Streeting accused the Government of moving too slowly, stating: “Social media should be treated like tobacco – it’s extremely addictive, bad for our health, and Big Tech is borrowing the Big Tobacco playbook to avoid regulation.
“We’ve got to give our children their childhood back. A ban for under-16s must be the start, not the end. We have given the pen to tech moguls to write our future for us. It’s time to take the pen back.”
There is growing pressure on the Government to bring in a ban. At the weekend Angela Rayner, who has also been rumoured as a leadership challenger to Mr Starmer, said: “I don’t understand why the Government isn’t just doing it in relation to stopping social media till you’re 16.
“I think the country’s kind of decided on this, and yet we’ve just got this bloody, seemingly never-ending process going on.”
The Government will pore over responses to the 12-week consultation, also considering measures like a time limit on scrolling, ending autoplay videos and overnight curfews for children.
In a report last week, the Commons Education Committee called for a ban, as well as measures to restrict harmful features to protect children who manage to dodge restrictions.
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said screen time and social media are universally seen as negative influences on young peoples’ health and wellbeing. In a response to the Government’s consultation, the professional body said; “It ranks alongside smoking and wearing seatbelts in cars as a unifying force for the medical profession.”
Last month MPs voted against a fast-track ban on social media for under-16s, with the Government vowing to study the results of the consultation. But it has pledged “age or functionality restrictions” in the near future.