The UK government is considering an Australian-style ban on social media for children alongside restrictions on addictive app features as part of a consultation on curbing harmful internet and smartphone use.
The consultation sets out options including setting a high digital age of consent, implementing phone curfews to avoid excessive use and restricting potentially addictive design features such as winning ‘streaks’ on games and social media ‘infinite scrolling’ of videos and pictures.
Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure from within his own Labour party to back restrictions including a minimum age for using social media sites such as TikTok ahead of a vote in the House of Lords on Wednesday.
An amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill currently going through the Lords would impose a social media ban on under 16-year-olds, a policy that came into force in Australia last month.
The amendment has signatories including Labour’s Baroness Luciana Berger, the Liberal Democrat Baroness Floella Benjamin and the Conservative Lord John Nash.
The consultation, which will be launched on Tuesday, has been accelerated in an attempt to draw political momentum away from the amendment, according to a person close to the situation.
The consultation on children’s use of technology will seek views from parents as well as young people. Ministers will visit Australia to gauge the effectiveness of its ban for under-16s on apps deemed to be potentially harmful, such as X and TikTok. Users now have to pass robust age verification checks to access the sites.
The UK government will also produce new screen time guidance for parents of children aged five to 16 in order to address concerns that young people’s lives are dominated by too much time in front of devices.
Technology secretary Liz Kendall said “parents still have serious concerns” despite the introduction of the Online Safety Act last year, which has imposed strict age verification requirements on over-18 websites.
Tougher guidance for schools on mobile phones will make it clearer that they need to be phone-free environments and that pupils should not have access to their devices during lessons, break times or between lessons. Ofsted inspectors will be asked to check mobile phone bans are being properly enforced.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Mobile phones have no place in schools. No ifs, no buts.”
Starmer has previously said that he does not support a total ban on social media for teenagers and children, but has appeared to have changed his stance in recent days.
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, accused the government of copying an announcement that her party had made a week ago, “and still not getting it right”.
She said that the Tories “would get children off these adult platforms altogether”.