Children under 16 should be banned from social networks such as WhatsApp and TikTok unless tech firms implement stronger safety measures, according to police chiefs. The heads of the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) have called for new legislation to restrict children's access to potentially harmful material, describing the online world as a 'Wild West'.
Recommendations for Safer Platforms
The organisations have submitted a series of recommendations to a government consultation on young people's social media use, with a full ban for under-16s under consideration. NCA Director Graeme Biggar expressed serious concerns about how some tech companies fail to protect children and urged the government to prohibit their use by children if platforms do not introduce safety measures.
'Online platforms have design features that criminals exploit to target children,' Biggar said. 'Given the scale of abuse and harm, these features should not be available on apps used by children. Either the tech companies remove the features that make their platforms unsafe, or the Government should ban the platform from under 16s. If the apps aren't safe, they shouldn't be available to children.'
Key Features Under Scrutiny
Specific features identified as problematic include end-to-end encryption, which makes messages unreadable to anyone except the sender and recipient, and algorithms that promote harmful or illegal content such as sexual, violent, or self-harm material. Biggar also called for device-level nudity controls to prevent under-18s from taking, sharing, or viewing nude images or videos.
'Given the level of harm that our officers are seeing day in and day out, we are very conscious that the longer we wait, more children will be failed,' he added.
Call for Urgent Action
NPCC Chairman Chief Constable Gavin Stephens warned that children are increasingly at risk from online predators while tech firms and lawmakers fail to introduce adequate safeguards. 'If I've got one big worry for the future, it is the fact that – as a society, as a government, as police and law enforcement, as tech giants – we don't get a grip of this risk to our children and vulnerable people,' Stephens said.
'In every other everyday walk of life there are laws and safeguards in place to protect children, yet in the online world it remains somewhat a Wild West where the legislation and regulation have not kept up with the pace of the technology. So we need a different approach.'
The police chiefs emphasised that their call for action is 'not about punishing children' but targeting dangerous features. Biggar clarified: 'If the companies change and remove those features or have them in a way with a design that is safe, then you don't need to ban the app.' The government's consultation closes next week.
