Livingston MP Gregor Poynton has welcomed Prime Minister Keir Starmer's announcement that access to social media will be banned for all children and young people under the age of 16.
The decision follows the UK Labour Government's national consultation, where nine in ten responding parents said that they supported the ban.
Mr Poynton recently carried out his own West Lothian consultation on children's online safety and social media use, after previous engagement with families, schools, youth organisations, and local residents across the Livingston constituency. This was submitted to form part of the wider national consultation.
A majority of local respondents backed the introduction of a legal minimum age for social media access. Many also supported stronger restrictions on online features designed to keep children engaged for longer, including algorithms, livestreaming, messaging strangers, and location sharing.
To address the scale of the challenge, the Government will do more than just a blanket ban, introducing world-leading blocks on these harmful functions, and is also exploring overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under-18s.
Mr Poynton said the programme demonstrated the Government's clear commitment to "side with families over tech companies" and to "put power back in parents' hands", giving children the childhood they deserve.
He said: "Today's announcement of a social media ban for under-16s will be welcome news for many parents, carers and teachers across West Lothian and the rest of the UK.
"My Online Safety Survey findings showed a clear desire within the Livingston constituency for more to be done to protect children and young people from the harmful impact social media can have.
"The legislation is expected to be brought to Parliament before Christmas and come into force in Spring 2027, applying to widely used platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X.
"The restrictions go further than any other country, showing that the UK Labour Government is listening to families and putting children's wellbeing first."
