The UK government has launched a consultation on a possible social media ban for under-16s, as part of a package of measures it says are intended to “protect young people’s wellbeing”.
The proposals will also see England’s education inspectorate, Ofsted, given the power to check policies on phone use when it goes into schools, with ministers saying they expect schools to be “phone-free by default” as a result.
The world’s first social media ban for young people took effect in Australia in December 2025, prompting other countries, including the UK, to consider following suit.
Some experts and children’s charities have cautioned against the idea, but it has strong backing elsewhere.
Political pressure and support for action
On Sunday, more than 60 Labour MPs wrote to the prime minister saying they backed a ban, with the mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey also calling on the government to act.
“Some argue that vulnerable children need access to social media to find their community,” Brianna’s mother Esther Ghey wrote in a letter seen by the BBC.
“As the parent of an extremely vulnerable and trans child, I strongly disagree.
“In Brianna’s case, social media limited her ability to engage in real-world social interactions. She had real friends, but she chose to live online instead.”
Former school standards minister Catherine McKinnell, who is among the MPs who signed the open letter to Keir Starmer, told BBC News that parents currently “felt unprepared to deal with the pace at which social media has changed”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, she added that while children should still be able to be “connected in an online world”, that did not mean “being bombarded with information sent to you by algorithms devised to create money by tech companies”.
Consultation details and Ofsted role
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall told the Commons on Tuesday that the government would bring forward a “swift three-month consultation” on further measures to keep children safe online.
According to the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, the consultation will seek views from parents, young people and civil society on the effectiveness of a ban.
It will also look at whether more robust age checks could be implemented by social media firms, which could be forced to remove or limit features “which drive compulsive use of social media”.
Ofsted will also issue tougher guidance to schools to reduce phone use, including advice that staff should not use their devices for personal reasons in front of pupils.
On Monday, Kendall said the laws in the Online Safety Act were “never meant to be the end point” and said she understood that parents still had serious concerns.
“We are determined to ensure technology enriches children’s lives, not harms them – and to give every child the childhood they deserve,” she said.
Opposition and union responses
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said her party would introduce a UK social media ban for under-16s if it were in power, describing the consultation as “more dither and delay” from Labour.
Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman Munira Wilson said there was “no time to waste in protecting our children from social media giants” and warned the consultation risked “kicking the can down the road yet again”.
National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede described the move as a “welcome shift”.
“Every day, parents and teachers see how social media shapes children’s identities and attention long before they sit their GCSEs, pulling them into isolating, endless loops of content,” he said.
The Association of School and College Leaders also welcomed the consultation but said the government had been “sluggish” in responding to the online risks posed to children.
Its general secretary Pepe Di’Iasio said there was “clearly a much wider problem of children and young people spending far too much time on screens and being exposed to inappropriate content”.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, also welcomed the plans but said the suggestion that Ofsted should “police” phones in schools was “deeply unhelpful and misguided”.
“School leaders need support from government, not the threat of heavy-handed inspection,” he added.
Evidence debate and concerns
The consultation comes as the House of Lords is expected to vote on a proposed ban on Wednesday, backed by figures including Baroness Benjamin and former education minister Lord Nash.
There is also a separate amendment calling for the introduction of film-style age ratings, which could limit the social media apps children can access.
Professor Amy Orben, who leads the Digital Mental Health programme at the University of Cambridge, told the BBC there was broad agreement that more needed to be done to keep children safe online.
However, she said there was still “not strong evidence” that age-based social media bans were effective.
Dr Holly Bear of Oxford University said the evidence for the effects of a ban was “still unfolding”.
Children’s charities including the NSPCC, Childnet and the Molly Rose Foundation were among 42 organisations to argue that a ban would be the “wrong solution”.
They warned it could create a false sense of safety and push risks elsewhere online, adding that blanket bans would fail to deliver the improvements in children’s safety and wellbeing that are urgently needed.
Source: BBC
Also read: Australia social media ban under-16s begins for millions
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