More than 100,000 people have contacted their local MPs calling for an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer indicated the government is considering such a move. The campaign, launched by grassroots organisation Smartphone Free Childhood, has flooded parliamentary inboxes with template emails demanding “reasonable, age-appropriate boundaries”.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Starmer said the government is watching Australia with interest and that “all options are on the table” regarding further protections for children. He also expressed concern about under-fives and screen time, noting that children are arriving at reception age four having spent “far too much time on screens”.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that while social media can foster connections, it also risks “addling the developing mind of young people” and exposing them to “sinister, extreme content”. He compared giving children unrestricted access to smartphones to leaving a nursery child unattended with a box of nails.
Joe Ryrie, co-founder of Smartphone Free Childhood, said every MP has been contacted, with some receiving over 1,000 emails. “Families from every part of the country are saying the same thing: that children need strong protections from these global platforms built to maximise attention and profit,” he stated.
The issue may come to a head next week when the House of Lords votes on an amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill that would ban under-16s from social media. If passed, the Commons would hold a binding vote in the coming months. However, the Molly Rose Foundation, a youth mental health charity, has argued that a ban is “not the answer” and “penalises children for tech firms’ and successive governments’ failures to act”.
