UK government launches social media ban for under 16s consultation

A new consultation launched by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Department for Education (DoE) seeks to "start a national conversation" and gauge public opinion on the use of technology by minors and whether children under 16 should be banned from using social media. 

As part of this evidence-gathering process, ministers intend to visit Australia to study their approach to social media age limits firsthand.

The consultation covers several key areas, including raising the digital age of consent and implementing phone curfews to curb excessive use. It will also explore ways to improve age-assurance accuracy to ensure younger users access only age-appropriate content. 

In addition, the government will consider restricting addictive design features, such as infinite scrolling and streaks, which are thought to drive compulsive behaviour. 

The announcement was followed on 20 January with a statement in the House of Commons on the government's next steps on online safety by Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall. 

While highlighting how the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA) had already made significant progress on the issue, "we have long known there is more to do." Kendal remarked that parents "up and down the country" are grappling with concerns about screen time, what age they should give their children a phone, what they see online, and, ultimately, the impact of all of this. The consultation will allow worried parents to have their say on vital issues around a potential social media ban and age verification. 

Meanwhile, Peers in the House of Lords voted 261 to 150 in support of a ban on under-16s, as part of an amendment to the government's Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill. The amendment was put forward by a cross-party group of peers, including Labour’s Baroness Luciana Berger, Liberal Democrat Baroness Floella Benjamin, and the Conservative former schools minister Lord John Nash. 

Nash said the evidence concerning the damage caused by teenage social media use was "overwhelming", claiming it is linked to mental health problems, disruptive behaviour and online radicalisation. Nash went on to dismiss the government's consultation, calling it an "attempt to kick the can down the road."

Baroness Kidron, who also supports the ban, said she feared the consultation would become a "playground of the tech lobbyist".

The government confirmed that it intends to overturn the amendment when the Bill returns to the Commons, to allow time for the consultation.

In a response to the consultation announcement, the Open Rights Group (ORG) warned that imposing a blanket ban on social media for under-16s would be a damaging and ineffective response to online harms. Such a move would create serious risks to privacy, data protection, and freedom of expression.

ORG is concerned that implementing an outright ban or applying film-style age ratings would require widespread age verification, requiring millions of 16-17 year olds and adults to hand over additional personal data to access online platforms.

On the Lords' amendment, ORG states that the ban would go far beyond Australia’s experiment and would cover social functions of online games, WhatsApp and Wikipedia.

Instead, they argue for greater user control and interoperability that would force platforms to compete on standards. Furthermore, ORG calls for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to increase enforcement of children's privacy violations, to place limits on profiling and targeted advertising, and to increase transparency about how user data is used on platforms.

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