Increased Calls For Social Media Ban For Under 16's

There has been a growing swell of support towards making it illegal for anyone under the age of sixteen to be able to access and use social media in the UK. This comes as a result of the murder of Brianna Ghey who was killed by two of her fellow classmates at Birchwood Community High School. It is said that Ghey reportedly faced years of transphobic harassment and bullying including when she was at school a part of which was reportedly being gang beaten.

The perpetrators of the crime were Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe and it has been discovered that they had communicated with each other via text message and social media to arrange and carry out what they planned. The proposed new measures follow in line with what has been put in place in Australia where all children under the age of sixteen are now prohibited from holding social media accounts.

Major platforms—including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, X, and YouTube—must enforce this, with failure risking fines up to \ (\$50\) million. The legislation focuses on platform accountability, requiring them to deactivate, prevent new, and restrict underage access.

There has also been support from Dr Wajid Akhter, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain who stated,

“"Politicians are finally waking up to the toxic and harmful effects of social media on our children, this is a ticking time bomb. It is encouraging to see this week that the Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham speak out in favour of action to ban social media for under 16-year-olds alongside the Prime Minister's consideration to introduce this new legislation.

The government must act on the urgency of this issue, as future generations are being poisoned every day by addiction-induced algorithms that enable big tech companies to reap immense profits at the cost of their well-being. The Government's announcement on Monday of an 'Early years screen time advisory group' is still inadequate – we do not fight a forest fire with a few buckets of water as the saying goes.

As a practising GP myself, the medical community has no end of research highlighting that higher social media usage is linked to a range of mental health symptoms, from anxiety and OCD to depression and eating."

The House Of Lords has backed a move to ban all under 16’s from accessing and using social media platforms. The vote won by 261 votes to 150, opposition peers voted to support a ban through an amendment to the government's schools bill.

The government has indicated it will try to overturn the amendment in the Commons, whilst it holds its own consultation on a potential ban.

But this Commons vote could prove politically tricky for ministers, as some Labour MPs have said they also favour a ban for under-16s.

Political momentum at Westminster in favour of a ban has grown since Australia's move last month to ban under-16s from 10 major platforms, with more than 60 Labour MPs recently joining the Conservative Party in urging a similar move.

However, others some campaigners and children's charities have come out against the idea.

Under the amendment backed by peers, the government would get a year to decide which platforms should be unavailable to under-16s, with companies forced to put in place "highly effective" age checks to police access.

Former Tory schools minister Lord Nash, one of those sponsoring the proposed change, said children's use of social media was a "societal catastrophe" and a ban would give teenagers a "few more years to mature" before using the platforms.

He said there was "overwhelming" evidence about the damage caused by teenage social media use, arguing it was linked to mental health problems, online radicalisation and disruptive behaviour in classrooms.

He dismissed the government's consultation as a "last-minute attempt to kick the can down the road", adding: "What are we waiting for? We know our children are being harmed".