Labour is expected to announce a social media crackdown within weeks as the prime minister, Keir Starmer, on Tuesday said he would act \u201cvery, very quickly\u201d despite splits between campaigners and child safety experts on what the new rules should be.<\/p>\n
New limits on social media access for children could be presented before the Makerfield byelection next month after an avalanche of responses to a public consultation have been analysed with the help of an AI system called Consult and an expert panel led by an eminent paediatrician. The consultation closes on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Age limits or changes to allegedly addictive design features \u2013 or a combination of both \u2013 would then come into force before the end of the year and could affect a range of platforms, including Instagram<\/a>, TikTok, YouTube, gaming sites such as Roblox and messaging services such as Snapchat.<\/p>\n Starmer\u2019s promise to act fast came as his leadership rival, the former health secretary Wes Streeting, on Tuesday accused legislators of being \u201casleep at the wheel\u201d on tackling social media harms. Streeting also compared the technology to smoking. The prime minister\u2019s spokesperson denied the government has moved too slowly.<\/p>\n There are concerns inside government that reforms could be hit by a legal challenge if the consultation process is not properly followed. More than 42,000 parents and close to 14,000 young people were among the 81,000 respondents to the consultation, which has included extensive lobbying by social media companies opposing changes to their algorithms. The technology secretary, Liz Kendall, said on Tuesday: \u201cNo one\u2019s going to stop me from doing what I think is right.\u201d<\/p>\n Kanishka Narayan, the online safety minister, is in Australia to investigate its under-16 social media ban, which has been in force for nearly six months.<\/p>\n Some leading child protection groups reject a similar blanket ban, fearing an online safety \u201ccliff edge\u201d.<\/p>\n School leaders, represented by the National Association of Head Teachers, said on Tuesday that any ban would need to be supported by wider safety measures or risk creating a false sense of safety and pushing children into less-regulated online spaces. Ministers may settle on requiring tech platforms to prove their products\u2019 features are not damaging to children and if they cannot they will be blocked for children, industry sources said.<\/p>\n The pressure to act has been growing. Legislators in Greece, France, Denmark, Spain, Indonesia and Malaysia have taken steps to follow Australia with social media bans for younger teenagers<\/a>. Starmer on Tuesday met families of young people who were badly affected by social media \u2013 including some whose children had died.<\/p>\n \u201cI have read the stories of all your family members,\u201d he told them. \u201cIt is important that we act and we will act. I can absolutely assure you of that.\u201d<\/p>\n They were due to include Ian Russell, whose 14-year-old daughter, Molly Russell, died from an act of self-harm in 2017 after suffering, a coroner found, \u201cthe negative effects of online content\u201d while using Instagram.<\/p>\n Russell is among campaigners who oppose an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s, believing it would form a \u201ccliff edge\u201d that would expose teenagers to harmful content on unreformed platforms as soon as they are old enough. The Molly Rose Foundation, which he set up in her name, has called for platforms to be required to adopt higher minimum joining ages if they offer higher-risk design features, and a new duty on tech firms to promote and protect children\u2019s wellbeing.<\/p>\n The foundation wants daily screen time limits and age restrictions on features including infinite scrolling, autoplay, likes, comments, alerts and push notifications as well as personalised content recommendations.<\/p>\n Starmer also met Esther Ghey, who favours an under-16 ban, saying \u201cas it stands, social media represents a serious risk to under-16s\u201d. Her daughter, Brianna, was murdered in 2023 and she believes social media addiction contributed to her daughter\u2019s mental health issues, leading to her taking risks with her personal safety.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t get any commitment, but I really did feel a sense of urgency from ministers and the PM,\u201d Ghey said afterwards.<\/p>\n