The Government’s online safety consultation closes at the end of Tuesday, and is considering options including an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s
Wes Streeting has compared tech companies to the tobacco industry amid growing calls for a social media ban for the under-16s.
The former Health Secretary appeared to suggest social meda was as bad as smoking for kids, and accused tech companies of following tobacco companies lead in trying to avoid regulation.
The Government’s online safety consultation closes tonight, and is considering options including an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s, app curfews and limits on addictive features.
His intervention comes shortly after his resignation and pledge to stand in any leadership contest to replace Keir Starmer. Despite the PM insisting he won’t stand down, Mr Streeting has begun setting out his stall in Labour’s shadow leadership contest as rival Andy Burnham fights to return to Westminster through a by-election in Makerfield.
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Mr Streeting said: “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.”
His comments echo warnings in a report by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which claims social media and smartphone use “ranks alongside smoking and wearing seatbelts in cars as a unifying force for the medical profession”. Doctors are seeing a “wave of radicalised children” from exposure to “hateful, addictive and grossly distressing content”, the report said.
The Labour Party chair urge the Government to “seize this moment”, telling Times Radio: “The consultation closes today and I think it is really important as a Government that we seize this moment, we get it right, and that’s why we’ve taken our time with this consultation to make sure that we listen to absolutely everybody, to make sure we get the right outcome for the future of our children in this country.”
Families who have lost relatives to harm linked to online platforms are set to meet Keir Starmer on Tuesday and urge him to honour the Government’s promise to impose social media restrictions on under-16s.
The meeting comes after campaigner Lauren Cowell issued an appeal to the Prime Minister in the Mirror on their behalf, urging him to “look in the eyes” of the families. Ellen Roome, who believes her 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died after a TikTok challenge went wrong, said the minimum age should be raised to 16 until tech giants can prove it’s safe. She said: “I have spent the years since [his death] fighting global technology companies just to understand the last days of his life. No parent should have to do that.”
There have been widespread calls for the UK to follow Australia ’s lead on a prohibition, although there have been questions about how effective it has been. The Government is not expected to announce its plans until after the consultation wraps up. It has already taken legal powers to allow ministers to make swift changes to the law if needed.