The UK government will open a consultation on the possibility of banning the use of social media applications for children under the age of 16.
The official statement said that “immediate action” will grant Ofsted, the school standards watchdog, the power to audit smartphone use policies during inspection visits to educational institutions, and that it expects smartphones to be generally banned in schools as a result of this announcement.
A similar ban came into effect in Australia starting in December 2025, which is considered the first of its kind in the world. It was noted that other countries are considering passing similar legislation.
This announcement came after more than 60 Labour MPs wrote to the Prime Minister regarding this issue. Esther Ghey, the mother of Brianna Ghey, a teenager who was tragically killed, also called on the government to take action.
“Some argue for the necessity of providing access to social media for the most vulnerable children to gain support from their community,” Esther Ghey wrote in a letter seen by United News Network. “But as a mother of a very vulnerable child who was targeted, I strongly deny that. Social media forces its way into capturing real social relationships. She had real friends, but she preferred living online instead.”
According to the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, the consultation will aim to “gather the views of parents, teenagers, and civil society” to evaluate the effectiveness of such a ban.
The consultation will also look into the possibility of social apps imposing better age verification measures, which may require removing or restricting features that “encourage addictive use of social networks.”
Ofsted will provide clear instructions to schools to reduce phone usage, including requesting that staff do not use their phones for personal purposes in the presence of students.
The government will announce its response to the consultation next summer.
The Technology Minister, Liz Kendall, said that the rules adopted in the Online Safety Act were not “intended as the final word,” adding that she understands “parents are still deeply concerned.”
“We are confident that we will ensure technology enriches children’s lives rather than causing them harm, and we will give every child the childhood they deserve,” she said.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said she would impose a social media ban on children under 16 if her party were in power. She described the current consultation as “procrastination and groundwork” by the Labour Party. “The Prime Minister is trying to amend an announcement we Conservatives made last week, and it is still not working,” she said.
The Liberal Democrat education spokesperson, Munira Wilson, said there is “no time to waste in protecting our children from the giants of social media” and that “this consultation represents further delay.”
The head of the teachers’ union in the UK, Daniel Kebede, called the move a “welcome change.” “Every day, parents and teachers see how social media shapes children’s identities and interests before they even begin studying for their GCSEs, driving them into endless negative loops of content,” he said.
The union for teachers and educational institutions also welcomed the consultation on social media but said the government had been “too slow” to react to the risks children face online.
Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, stated that “there is a widespread problem regarding children and teenagers spending long hours in front of screens and discovering inappropriate content.”
Paul Whiteman, General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, also welcomed the plans for a potential social media ban. However, he said the proposal that Ofsted should “oversee” phones in schools was “unhelpful and superficial.” “Heads require support from the government, not the threat of intensive inspection,” he added.
‘No strong evidence’
This comes at a time when the government faces additional pressure from the House of Lords, which is expected to vote on a ban proposal on Wednesday. The proposed amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Education Bill is supported by prominent figures such as former children’s television presenter Baroness Benjamin and former Education Secretary Lord Knight. There is also a separate amendment calling for age-rating assessments for social media content that may appear on apps accessible to children.
Professor Amy Orben, Director of the Digital Mental Health Programme at the University of Cambridge, said there is “widespread agreement” that more work is needed to keep our children safe online. She added that there is “no strong evidence” that age-mandating social networks is effective.
Dr. Holly Bear from the University of Oxford agreed that evidence on the effects of such a ban “remains to be clarified.” “The logical sequence might be to try and reduce exposure to systemic harmful content, improve protection, support digital literacy, and accurately assess the harms resulting from major policies,” she said.
The NSPCC, the Safer Internet Centre, and the Molly Rose Foundation were among 42 individuals and unions that claimed on Saturday that a ban would be the “wrong solution.” “A ban will create a false sense of safety that will lead to children—and the threats they face—moving to other areas online,” the organizations wrote. “Despite good intentions, total bans on social media will not achieve the immediate improvement in safety and well-being that children need.”
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