A social media ban for under-16s is “not on the cards at the moment”, a minister has said, as teenagers urged him to rethink plans to follow Australia’s lead and restrict access to sites such as TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat.
Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for science and technology, is trying to convince social media platforms to do more to prevent online harms, with new laws coming into effect next year that could result in heavy fines and even jail in cases where online safety is breached.
He told the Guardian: “There’s no work programme at the moment on banning smartphones to children,” and he added: “It’s not my preferred choice.”
His comments came as he met a group of teenagers at the headquarters of the NSPCC in London on Thursday. Childline operators deal with about 10 calls a day from children suffering harms from social media.
The panel of teens complained about platforms’ addictiveness, and the difficulties of getting help when their accounts were hacked and reporting content that made them uncomfortable or distressed. However, none of them called for a ban, and they warned Kyle that imposing one would reduce their social connections, access to support and their safety. Some said teenagers would find a way to beat the ban, as they have done with vaping.
Kyle’s comments earlier this week that a ban was “on the table” led to concerns among teenagers. Kyle is still saying he has not ruled out a ban in the future, depending on evidence about its effectiveness, including if one is rolled out in Australia where legislation is going through parliament.
“I’m in touch with the government in Australia to see what, if it is, they’re basing it on [and] why they’re doing it,” he said.
He said the main risk he was concerned to tackle was of deaths of children as a result of social media. “I’ve met parents of children who have either committed suicide or the murder has been instigated via online activity,” he said. “I get a lot of parents writing to me saying ‘just stop this kit getting into my kid’s hands’.”
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He said he was impressed by the pace of improvement in age verification software and said that if it was even 70% accurate within a year, “that is keeping 70% of children safe from inappropriate content online”.
