MP calls for Australian-style teen social media ban

A Labour MP has called for an Australian-style social media ban for under-16s as a way to protect children's mental health.

In Australia, from 10 December, social media firms – including Meta, TikTok and YouTube – must ensure under-16s do not have accounts on their platforms.

Jess Asato, the MP for Lowestoft, Suffolk, said children in the UK were being exposed to harmful content online, and she wants to see a similar ban in place.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said it had introduced laws to ensure online content was "genuinely age appropriate".

New measures came into force in the UK in July as part of the Online Safety Act, meaning online and social media companies are now legally responsible for keeping children and young people safe online.

But Asato has called for the age of online consent to be raised from 13 to 16.

"Children deserve to have the best start in life, and that means growing up away from social media," she said.

"We've got to ask 'Is it a coincidence that as children's lives have moved more online, children's mental health has suffered?'"

She added that the impact could be seen in fewer children regularly playing outside and fewer saying they enjoy reading.

"We wouldn't buy toys for our children that didn't have some regulation," Asato told BBC Radio Suffolk's Wayne Bavin.

"Years ago, there used to be toys made of lead. We found out that was bad for children and they were removed.

"But the same doesn't happen for social media products because it's the Wild West."

Asato said she feared that "we're raising a lost generation".

A spokesperson for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said it understood parents' concerns around social media.

"That's why we've taken some of the boldest steps anywhere in the world by introducing laws to ensure that online content is genuinely age appropriate," they said.

"It is important that we strike the right balance: protecting children while ensuring they can safely benefit from the digital world without risking isolation or cutting off access to vital services, especially to the most vulnerable."

BBC Radio Suffolk heard from some children that, instead of banning social media, better safeguarding should be brought in.

Joshua,12, said he spent about two hours a day on social media apps, mostly talking to friends.

"I think the problem is parents, guardians and carers can't control it because they don't know much about it, because it was never around when they were younger," he said.

"I feel like banning all under-16s is a shock reaction to what's going on, and I think they should work on some of the systems of stopping some things being put on platforms that shouldn't be."

Paige, 13, said she spent about three hours a day on her phone.

"I think putting safeguards in place would be a better way of dealing with things, because I think a lot of things on social media shouldn't be there, especially for the younger eye," she said.

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