Medical leaders have warned that social media and smartphone use is as harmful to children as smoking, in a report submitted to a UK government consultation. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AOMRC) said social media 'ranks alongside smoking and wearing seatbelts in cars as a unifying force for the medical profession'. Doctors are seeing a 'wave of radicalised children' due to exposure to 'hateful, addictive and grossly distressing content', the report added.
The consultation, which closes on Tuesday, could pave the way for an Australia-style ban on under-16s using social media, or other measures such as limiting scrolling or overnight curfews. Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting backed a ban, saying lawmakers have been 'asleep at the wheel' on regulation. He compared big tech to the tobacco industry, stating: 'Social media should be treated like tobacco – it's extremely addictive, bad for our health, and big tech is borrowing the big tobacco playbook to avoid regulation.'
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said she would be 'unstoppable' in cracking down on social media harms affecting children. She told BBC Breakfast: 'No-one's going to stop me from doing what I think is right for this country.' Kendall said she started the consultation open-minded but noted that parents whose children had died 'want immediate action'.
However, a coalition of children's organisations, including the NSPCC and Girlguiding, warned that focusing solely on age limits risks failing to address structural drivers of online harms. The Children's Coalition for Online Safety called for a ban on targeted advertising and manipulative design features, default safety protections for under-16s, and stronger regulation of AI systems. Leanda Barrington-Leach of 5Rights Foundation said: 'We will not fix this by tinkering around the edges.'
