The technology secretary has confirmed that the government is “keeping all options” when it comes to a possible ban on children under the age of 16 using social media.
Peter Kyle said that social media firms should be more concerned about the impact of their products.
He told Sky News: “I’m keeping all options open. The problem is, at the moment, there’s very little evidence.”
It comes after Australia’s states and territories unanimously pledged their support to a national plan which aims to stop children under the age of 16 from accessing platforms such as X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
UK Labour MP Josh MacAlister has submitted of a private member’s bill recommending additional safeguards for children. The safer phones bill would commit the government to a review of the sale of phones to teens, including a review of whether additional technological safeguards should be on phones sold to under-16s.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, praised the idea last month, posting on X/Twitter: “Given the impact of smartphone use and addiction on the mental health of children and young people and the concerns from parents, this is a really timely debate.”
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Asked whether the government could introduce a social media ban for children under the age of 16, Kyle noted there were examples of “grotesque impacts” and “it does lead to loss of life in certain circumstances”.
But he added: “We need to know precisely what the impact is, because, and it’s a frustration of mine, the tech companies themselves aren’t building this evidence.
“If I was producing products that were used by more than half of teenagers, sometimes 10-year-olds, sometimes five-year-olds are having access to these products, I would want to know exactly what the impact that my products are having on those kids, on those people particularly with vulnerabilities. But they’re not doing that.
“So I’m trying to do what I can do to find out what the where the evidence is behind the impact that social media has on children, young people and people with vulnerabilities so that I can build I can build policies that sometimes might be strident policies, but they need to be built on firm evidence, because the evidence just simply isn’t there at the moment.
“And I’m open minded as to what that means going forward.”
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