Tories would ban under-16s from social media

The Conservatives say they would ban under-16s from accessing social media platforms if they win power, promising to follow the example of Australia, which became the first country to introduce the policy last month.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said her party would also seek to ban smartphones in schools if it entered office.

Speaking to the BBC, she said many parents wanted to stop their children using social media but “don’t know how”.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the government would review how Australia’s ban works out, adding there was a need to “get the balance right”.

Speaking to BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Badenoch claimed the use of “addictive” social media apps “correlates quite strongly” with an increase in mental health issues among young people.

She denied a ban for under-16s would represent government overreach, saying it was a “very Conservative policy” to seek to protect children.

“We tell children what to do all the time. Children are not adults. Freedom is for adults,” she said.

“Adults should be able to cope with that and manage themselves. Children, we need to protect.”

The party wants social media companies, including TikTok and Snapchat, to use age verification tools to prevent under-16s from accessing their platforms.

Speaking on the same programme, Alexander said the Online Safety Act, passed under the Conservatives, already gave Ofcom greater powers to prevent young people from encountering harmful content online.

She added: “We’ve got to get the balance right here, making sure that young people are safe online as well as offline, but that they can also enjoy what’s great about the digital world”.

The Labour government has stopped short of an England-wide ban on smartphones in schools, instead saying headteachers should decide, but ministers are considering time limits on the amount of time children can spend on social media.

Some within Labour, however, want the party to go further – with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham saying he agreed with “a lot of what Kemi Badenoch is saying” on social media use.

The Liberal Democrats said they had “long been raising the alarm” about the issue of children’s safety online, and attacked the Conservatives for not supporting them in a vote last year to raise the “digital age of data consent” to 16.

Separately, the NASUWT teachers’ union called for a similar ban (after taking evidence from its members).

Since July last year, platforms have been required to prevent young people from encountering harmful content relating to suicide, self-harm, eating disorders and pornography under the Online Safety Act.

Enforced by Ofcom, the media regulator, platforms that do not comply with the legislation risk fines, jail time or, in very serious cases, a ban in the UK.

This spring, the government is expected to issue guidance to parents around how long children under the age of five should spend watching TV or looking at computer screens.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said around 98% of children were watching screens on a daily basis by the age of two, with research suggesting that higher screen use in this age group was linked to poorer language development.

The terms of reference for the national working group, which will be led by children’s commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza and Department for Education scientific adviser Professor Russell Viner, will be published on Monday.

Parents, children and early years practitioners will all be involved in developing the guidance, which will be published in its first iteration in April.

The education secretary has insisted it will be “shaped by parents, not dictated to them”.