MPs call on government to track success of online ban

MPs have called on the Government to monitor the success of the Australian social media ban to inform best practice for safeguarding children online.

Henley MP Freddie van Mierlo and Wokingham MP Clive Jones said international models should inform an “implementable” strategy to protect children using most social media sites.

This comes after landmark legislation came into force in Australia banning children under the age of 16 from the platforms.

As of Wednesday last week,
10 platforms including TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and X are now required to take reasonable steps to ensure children are not using them. This will involve kicking existing users under the age threshold off and preventing new users from creating accounts.

The platforms could face fines of up to A$49.5m (£24.7m) if they fail to comply.

Labour’s Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said last week ministers would be keeping a close eye on how the policy plays out but cast doubt about enforcement.

Mr van Mierlo said while the success of the Australian ban should be monitored, the Liberal Democrats’ proposal of increasing the age of digital consent from
13 to 16 would be a good start for UK policy.

The policy was debated in the House of Commons as part of a Private Members’ Bill earlier in the year.

Mr van Mierlo said: “It would mean that companies aren’t allowed to use the data supplied or collected by that individual to target them with additional videos or content which would be specifically tailored for them.

“So, it would mean that children would still be allowed to use social media but they wouldn’t be targeted by these algorithms in the same way. Unfortunately, the Government has so far rejected our calls for that to happen.”

Mr van Mierlo said he would also like to see the use of phones restricted in schools. He said the Government was acting “too slowly” and needed to go “further and faster” in passing effective protections, although he did support the Government in making media literacy a mandatory part of the curriculum.

He said: “I think the Government is acting too slowly, they haven’t recognised the harm social media can have on children and I think they need to go further and faster.

“We also need to be helping children to better understand the content that they are seeing, to differentiate between misinformation and disinformation, and improve critical thinking.

“I really do support the work that government has done to update the curriculum in that regard and I think that is a very positive thing.

“Headteachers and teachers have told me that extreme violent content is available and seen by children, pornographic material is seen by children and they don’t often understand what they’re seeing or how to avoid seeing it.

“We also see situations where social media can unfortunately drive mental health illnesses including anorexia, and we’ve seen cases as well in the UK and globally of AI chatbots encouraging suicide.”

Mr Jones called for a cross-government “Safer Screen Taskforce” to come up with effective solutions to safeguard children online. He also reiterated his party’s calls to introduce a cap on screen time for children and raise the age of digital consent.

Mr Jones said: “The Government needs to look very carefully at international best practice and solutions to create an effective and implementable plan to safeguard children online.

“Liberal Democrat research previously revealed that 80 per cent of parents report negative behaviours in their child as a direct result of phone usage.”

Matt Rodda, Labour MP for Reading Central, was unavailable when approached for comment.

Four years ago, Olly Stephens, 13, was fatally stabbed by two schoolboys in an Emmer Green park. This sparked a national conversation about the harm that unrestricted social media access has on children, as the attack had been orchestrated online following a dispute in a social media chat.

Olly’s parents, Stuart and Amanda Stephens, were part of a group of bereaved families which have been lobbying MPs to legislate tougher measures for online safety for children, leading to the Online Safety Act, which came into force in July.