Tories To Ban Social Media For Under-16s If They Return To Power – Kemi Badenoch -

 UK Conservatives To Ban Social Media For Under-16s If They Return To Power –Kemi Badenoch

 

The UK Conservative Party has said it will ask social media companies to bar children under the age of 16 from their platforms if it returns to power, placing r

esponsibility on tech firms to enforce age restrictions through stricter verification tools.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the proposal would require companies such as TikTok and Snapchat to prevent under-16s from accessing their services, arguing that many parents are struggling to control their children’s social media use on their own.

Speaking to the BBC, Badenoch said parents want to limit their children’s exposure to social media but “don’t know how”, adding that government intervention aimed at companies would help protect young people online.

She said the Conservatives would also seek to ban smartphones in schools, as part of broader efforts to curb what she described as the harmful effects of excessive screen time on children.

Appearing on BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Badenoch said the use of “addictive” social media apps “correlates quite strongly” with a rise in mental health issues among young people.

Rejecting claims that such measures would amount to government overreach, she said it was a “very Conservative policy” to protect children from harm.

“We tell children what to do all the time. Children are not adults. Freedom is for adults,” she said.

“Adults should be able to cope with that and manage themselves. Children, we need to protect.”

Also, in a post on her X handle on Sunday, Badenoch wrote, “When I spoke with students last April, there was agreement that phones should be banned in schools because of the content they were seeing online.

“But bullying, and violent and extreme content doesn’t stop at the school gate, it follows kids home too.”

“It's time to introduce age limits for social media and let our children be children,” she added.

Under the proposal, social media firms would be expected to deploy robust age-verification systems to block access for under-16s, following the example of Australia, which became the first country to introduce a similar policy last month.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the government would monitor how Australia’s ban works in practice, stressing the need for a balanced approach.

Speaking on the same programme, she said the Online Safety Act, passed under the previous Conservative government, already gives Ofcom stronger powers to protect young people from harmful online content.

She added: “We’ve got to get the balance right here, making sure that young people are safe online as well as offline, but that they can also enjoy what’s great about the digital world.”

The Labour government has so far stopped short of introducing an England-wide ban on smartphones in schools, instead leaving decisions to headteachers. However, ministers are considering limits on how much time children can spend on social media.

Despite this, some Labour figures have called for tougher action. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said he agreed with “a lot of what Kemi Badenoch is saying” about social media use among young people.

The Liberal Democrats said they had “long been raising the alarm” over children’s online safety, criticising the Conservatives for not backing a proposal last year to raise the “digital age of data consent” to 16.

Separately, the NASUWT (National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers) teachers’ union has also called for a similar ban after taking evidence from its members.

Since last July, social media platforms have been required under the Online Safety Act to prevent children from encountering harmful content related to suicide, self-harm, eating disorders and pornography.

The law is enforced by Ofcom, with platforms that fail to comply facing fines, jail terms for executives or, in the most serious cases, a ban in the UK.