Government minister suggests social media ban for children

A government minister has proposed banning children from using social media because of the harm it causes to their physical and mental health.

Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, has said he will look at Australia, where the government is planning to introduce a bill barring children from using platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Anthony Albanese, the Australian prime minister, has said the government will carry out a consultation on introducing an age limit of between 14 and 16 because social media is taking children away from real-life experiences with friends and family. A trial on age verification is underway and begins its final phase this week.

Kyle told the BBC: “I’m really interested in the measures that Prime Minister Albanese is looking at. We don’t know what the nature of the pilot is yet, and I’m looking very closely.

“You know, there is considerable evidence that social media is harming vulnerable young people. It’s making some young people increasingly vulnerable.”

He added, however, that there was little evidence about what action made a big difference, adding: “So I’m looking very closely at the Australian experience, and I’m open-minded. Of course, I’m going to keep everything on the table going forward, because I would do anything to keep young people safe, but it has to be measures that are enforceable and actually make the impact that we’re driving towards.”

Separately, the government of one state, South Australia, has already drafted a bill to ban children 13 and under from using social media. The state’s premier, Peter Malinauskas, said the proposal was driven by concerns about the mental health harms caused to children accessing social media. “The government is now going to step in, we’re going to ban kids from getting access to these accounts,” he said.

“We’re going to ban the social media services from providing access in that first place and where they do it and do it knowingly, they are subject to severe punishment, heavy financial penalties that will act as a major deterrent to ensure this doesn’t occur in the future.”

Safety should be ‘baked in’ to social media products

In the UK, there has long been concern about the harms social media is causing to children. In 2017, a 14-year old girl, Molly Russell, killed herself after viewing Instagram content related to suicide, depression, self-harm and anxiety. Esther Ghey, the mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey, has said that social media has contributed to a mental health crisis among young people.

The UK’s Online Safety Act, which was passed last year, places a legal duty on social media companies to prevent children from accessing content that is harmful or age-inappropriate, including pornography, self-harm and eating disorders. Social media companies can do this either by removing it from the platform or using age verification tools to restrict underage children from viewing it. Companies that fail to comply with the rules will face fines of up to £18 million, or 10% of the company’s annual global turnover, whichever is greater.

Kyle said he wanted to see a situation “where safety is baked in at the start of social media products before they land in society because at the moment, they’re free to land products in society. We deal with the harms, and then we’re sort of retrospectively legislating and regulating. We need to get to a point where there is more testing of these products before they make it out into society.”

He added: “We’re not there yet. I’m not there yet, but I’m taking steps forward, and I think social media companies can see the approach that I and this government are taking to make sure that safety is there right from the outset.”