Bereaved parents have piled pressure on Keir Starmer to take urgent action on social media – as MPs voted down a proposal to ban under 16s from accessing platforms
Bereaved parents have piled pressure on Keir Starmer to take urgent action on social media – as MPs voted down a proposal to ban under 16s from accessing platforms.
The PM has summoned tech giants into Downing Street on Thursday as he said “looking the other way is not an option”.
He will demand an update on progress on tackling online harms from bosses at Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat, Google, which owns YouTube, TikTok and X.
Mr Starmer said: “The consequences of failing to act are stark. We owe it to parents, and to the next generation, to put children’s safety first – because they won’t forgive us if we don’t.”
But grieving parents whose children’s deaths are linked to social media criticised the Government’s lack of “decisive” action and warned it “risks being outmanoeuvred by the relentless pace of Big Tech”.
Pressure is piling on the PM to ban social media for under 16s, with peers this evening forcing a second vote on the issue in the Commons within six weeks.
READ MORE: TikTok boss confronted over teen’s unexplained death and missing data
MPs rejected the latest amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, with MPs voting 256 to 150.
Last month, MPs voted 307 to 173 against the Lords proposal for an outright ban. One Labour MP John McDonnell previously rebelled against the Government to support a ban.
The Government has not supported the amendments as it is currently consulting on a range of online safety measures, including a social media ban, as well as curbing addictive features on apps or introducing overnight curfews on sites.
Ahead of the vote, Education minister Olivia Bailey branded the Lords’ amendment “narrow”, telling MPs: “Our consultation allows us to address a much wider range of services and features. It also allows us to consider the different views about the way forward, and that’s why it’s crucial that we do not preempt the government’s consultation, which will close next month.”
She also vowed there will not be “endless rounds of consultation,” telling the Commons: “The government will act. We have listened to the concerns raised in both houses regarding a desire for swift action and more specific power, and for appropriate scrutiny.”
The minister added that the Government has tabled an amendment in lieu of the Lords’ demands which commits the Education Secretary to report to Parliament on progress in this area within six months of the bill becoming law.”
Ellen Roome, who believes her son Julian “Jools” Sweeney, 14, may have died doing an online challenge, was among bereaved parents who handed in a letter to No10 on Wednesday calling for urgent action. She was joined by the parents of Isaac Kenevan, Mia Janin, Noah Gibson and Maia Walsh.
“While other nations take decisive legislative action to protect their citizens, the UK remains in a cycle of consultation that risks being outmanoeuvred by the relentless pace of Big Tech,” they wrote.
“We can no longer treat social media as a neutral tool; for children, it has become a form of ‘Digital Nicotine,’ engineered to bypass developmental safeguards and leading to profound, documented harms.
“There is now an overwhelming parliamentary and public consensus for change, evidenced by the decisive amendments recently passed in the House of Lords.”
Australia restricted access for under 16s at the end of last year, while other European countries including Spain and Greece have similar plans.
Separately, Mr Starmer issued a message to parents to assure them he understands they expect “action and fast”. He said: “Social media shapes how children see themselves, their friendships and the world around them. When that comes with real risks, looking the other way is not an option.
“Parents rightly expect action and fast. That’s why we’ve already taken the powers needed to move quickly once our consultation ends. I will take whatever steps necessary to keep children safe online. Today is about making sure social media companies step up and take responsibility. “
Ms Roome’s campaign is supported by Lauren Cowell, Simon Cowell’s partner, who earlier this week spoke to The Mirror about her urgent demands. Ms Cowell confronted deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell on LBC radio, asking her why the Government had told Labour MPs to vote against the social media amendment. She told the senior MP: “As a mum myself, I want to ask why, when we all know the dangers of social media, the Labour government is whipping its own MPs to vote against measures that would protect children and young people right now?”
Ms Powell, who is a mum to teenagers, said she is in “two minds” about personally supporting a ban but said the government will bring in effective action “as quickly as possible”.
It comes as research by Opinium shows more than seven in 10 (72%) British parents want under-16s to be prevented from having social media accounts.
Not all bereaved parents and online safety charities are supportive of a ban. Ian Russell, whose 14-year-old Molly Russell took her own life in 2017 due to online harms, among those who urge caution before rushing into a ban.
Andy Burrows, the CEO of the Molly Rose Foundation, named after Molly, said: “MPs have once again rejected the notion that we either have an Australia style-ban or stick with the completely unacceptable status quo with children continuing to come to preventable harm on social media.
“Our recent polling shows a majority of children are still accessing prohibited platforms in Australia with most not feeling safer or noticing improvements in their lives. It’s time to look beyond this false sense of safety and for the Prime Minister to decisively commit to strengthening regulation to make unsafe and addictive design a thing of the past.”
The charity has also pointed towards research which shows three in five (61%) Australian 12 to 15 year-olds still have access to one or more accounts despite a social media ban coming into force in the country at the end of last year.
