More than 60 Labour MPs have signed an open letter urging the prime minister to back an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s.
The letter, understood to be authored by Plymouth Moor View MP Fred Thomas, calls on the government to take action to “protect young people from the consequences of unregulated, addictive social media platforms”.
It asks Sir Keir Starmer to implement a blanket ban on social media platforms for children under 16. Calls follow Australia’s law, which came into effect in December.
“Across our constituencies, we hear the same message: children are anxious, unhappy and unable to focus on learning,” it reads. “They are not building the social skills needed to thrive, nor having the experience that will prepare them for adulthood.”
The letter, signed by dozens of backbenchers as well as education select committee chair Helen Hayes, former whip Vicky Foxcroft, and former education minister Catherine McKinnell, says Britain risks being “left behind” if it does not act.
The MPs said they believe the government must place the “onus” to prevent underage access to platforms on technology companies rather than parents.
“We all know the harm social media causes to young people’s mental health,” Mr Thomas wrote in a post on X alongside pictures of the letter.
“The Labour Govt has acted in recent months. Today, 61 Labour MPs have written to the PM urging him to go further. We back an Australia-style model with the onus on tech firms to block under-16s access.”
Last week, Sir Keir Starmer said that “all options are on the table” regarding the possibility of an Australia-style social media ban during a visit to Scotland.
“We need to better protect children from social media,” he said. “We’re looking at what’s happening in Australia, but all options are on the table in relation to what further protections we can put in place, whether that’s under-16s on social media, all options on the table.”
The letter says that public support for the measures is “strong”, adding that young people themselves also recognise the potential harm caused by social media.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch previously said she would introduce an under-16s ban if her party won the next election.
But a number of prominent online safety and children’s charities have spoken out against a ban, warning it would be the “wrong solution”.
In a letter published on Saturday, the NSPCC, Childnet, and suicide prevention charity the Molly Rose Foundation all said they believe a blanket ban would “create a false sense of safety” that would see children and predators move to other, less regulated, corners of the internet.
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