UK weighs Australia-style social media ban for children

THE UK is considering following Australia in imposing a social media ban for children under 16 years old, amid growing calls for restrictions to protect vulnerable younger users.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said this week that Prime Minister Keir Starmer is encouraging debate on whether to impose an online ban for young people, following a report in the Sun that he has ordered officials to examine how Australia’s own exclusion is working.

“I’m certainly in favor of action in this area,” Streeting told Sky News, pointing to his own concerns about the impact of social media on the wellbeing and cognitive development of children.

The flurry of activity comes after the UK separately threatened action against Elon Musk’s X platform over the thousands of sexually suggestive images generated by its artificial intelligence tool Grok. Streeting said he’s “glad” the government “forced this change in approach” after X announced it would disable the ability for people to use Grok to create such images of women and children.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall told the House of Commons that banning social media for under-16s is not current government policy, but that she is “determined to take action” and would be “driven by the evidence.”

The government announced earlier this week that it would issue advice to parents on how children under five should use screens.

Any move on social media would be likely to garner support from other parties. The Liberal Democrats last year called for health warnings on social media for children, as well as time caps on so-called “doomscrolling.” Main opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, meanwhile, said earlier this month she’d like to see age limits on social media because the internet is a “wild west.”

“What we want to see is common sense: protection for children and freedom for adults,” Badenoch told the BBC.

Meanwhile Nigel Farage, leader of the poll-leading Reform UK Party said he’s “not very keen, generally, on banning things” and that Britain should see how the Australian measures are working in six months’ time.

Australia became the world’s first democracy to undertake such a crackdown last month, by passing and enforcing a law which compels social media platforms including X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to keep under-16s off their sites or face hefty fines.

The government’s move was driven by a desire to protect children from harmful content, bullying, grooming and sexual extortion, as well as youth suicides linked to online abuse.

SUNDAY TRIBUNE