United Kingdom

Starmer Signals Support for Teen Social Media Ban as Parents Petition

Should we ban social media for under-16s to protect them, or does the research show such bans would cause more harm than good?

JAN 16·Updated JAN 17

Starmer Signals Support for Teen Social Media Ban as Parents Petition

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Above: Teenagers look at their iPhones in Penzance, England, on Aug. 26, 2025. Image credit: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

The Facts

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer indicated that the government is considering imposing a social media ban on children under 16, stating that all options are on the table for protecting children, and that the government is examining Australia's approach to platform age restrictions.
guardian
The Telegraph
This comes as the Smartphone Free Childhood campaign gathered over 100,000 letters to Members of Parliament (MPs) urging support for the ban, with constituent emails being sent to every MP.
guardian
Netmums
The Times (UK)
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has urged Starmer to back the ban, pledging that her party would block under-16s from social media if elected, with the Conservatives tabling an amendment to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, scheduled for a vote in the House of Lords next week.
Financial Times
guardian
The Times (UK)
Australia became the first country to ban social media for under-16s in December, with platforms required to take reasonable steps to keep children off their sites or face fines up to AU$49.5 million ($33 million). More than 4.7 million accounts were removed across 10 platforms in the first days.
guardian
The Telegraph
TikTok, which removes around 6 million underage accounts globally each month, announced it will roll out enhanced age-detection across Europe in the coming weeks, using profile information and behavior to identify accounts potentially belonging to users under 13.
Engadget
TikTok Newsroom
The suicide prevention organization Molly Rose Foundation says a blanket social media ban risks causing more harm than good, while the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has called for a risk-based approach to minimum age-setting.
Financial Times
The Telegraph

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The Spin

Techno-skeptic narrative

Social media platforms are destroying children's lives through violent content, gang recruitment and mental health crises, with a 15-fold rise in eating disorders among teens. Parents overwhelmingly demand action — as shown by the 100,000 letters sent to MPs in just 36 hours — because they can't fight trillion-dollar attention economies alone. Setting age limits at 16 isn't government overreach; it's the same common-sense protection applied to drinking and driving.

Netmums

Spectator (UK)

Techno-optimist narrative

Contrary to popular belief, research on thousands of adolescents recently found zero evidence that social media or gaming causes mental health problems. Bans won't reduce screen time; kids will just migrate to other platforms or darker corners of the internet while losing vital support networks that youth, especially vulnerable youth, depend on. The real solution is regulating platform design and algorithms, not stripping young people of their right to access information and develop digital literacy skills.