MPs’ inboxes have been flooded with letters calling for an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s, as the prime minister indicated such a move was being considered.
More than 100,000 people have contacted their local MP since the grassroots organisation Smartphone Free Childhood launched an email campaign on Tuesday evening with a template calling for “reasonable, age-appropriate boundaries”.
When asked about the issue on Thursday, Keir Starmer hinted a ban could be getting closer, telling reporters: “We need to better protect children from social media.”
Asked if he would support a ban in the UK, Starmer said the government was watching Australia with interest. “All options are on the table in relation to what further protections we can put in place – whether that’s under-16s on social media or an issue I am very concerned about, under-fives and screen time,” he said. “Children are turning up age four at reception having spent far too much time on screens.”
The health secretary, Wes Streeting, who has asked the bestselling author and ban advocate Jonathan Haidt to speak to his officials, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that social media could help with connections and a sense of belonging but also came with risks including the “harm of addling the developing mind of young people” as well as exposure to “really sinister, extreme stuff”.
“No one would dispute when I was growing up that being able to use tools like hammers or a saw was a good skill set for us to learn as young people,” Streeting said. “What would never happen was a nursery or primary school child being given a box of nails and left unattended with it. That’s kind of what we have done with mobile phones.”
Starmer has previously opposed banning social media for children, believing such a move would be difficult to police and could push teenagers towards the dark web. But on Monday he told Labour MPs he would consider all options in curbing young people’s access to social media.
Joe Ryrie, a co-founder and director of Smartphone Free Childhood, said every MP had been contacted about the issue, with some receiving more than 1,000 emails from constituents.
“It has gone absolutely wild and it’s still growing really quickly,” Ryrie said. “Families from every part of the country are just saying the same thing: that children need strong protections from these global platforms built to maximise attention and profit.”
Pressure continues to mount on the government to ban social media for under-16s after a fortnight of controversy about Elon Musk’s Grok AI tool being used to digitally remove the clothes of women and children.
When Australia introduced a social media ban for under-16s last month, more than 4.7m social media accounts believed to be held by young people were removed in the first days of the law coming into force.
In the UK the issue could come to a head next week when the House of Lords is due to vote on an amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill that would prevent under-16s from accessing social media. If passed, the House of Commons would have to hold a binding vote on the issue in the next few months.
Politicians across the political spectrum have called for restrictions on social media access for children and the NASUWT, one of the UK’s biggest teaching unions, has called for a ban.
However, the youth mental health charity the Molly Rose Foundation has said a social media ban is “not the answer” and “penalises children for tech firms’ and successive governments’ failures to act”.
A spokesperson from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said the Online Safety Act had taken bold steps to keep children safe. “A social media ban is not our current policy but we keep all options under review based on the evidence,” they said. “We are striking the right balance: protecting children from harm while ensuring they can benefit safely from the digital world.”
