The Debate: Should the UK ban social media for under-16s?
As the UK launches a consultation into a social media ban for under-16s, we hear the arguments for and against in this week’s Debate
YES: Children who are still developing are being fed extreme views
Banning children from social media can only do more good than harm. As a society, we are very quick to protect children in real life, but we are massively failing them when it comes to online safety.
Surveys suggest between 90 to 100 per cent of children as young as 10 are going online every day, with many accessing some form of social media, and this is potentially putting them at risk of serious harm with very minimal oversight or accountability.
Research by the government last year found that just over a third (35 per cent) of children aged 10-15 accepted a friend request on social media from someone they didn’t know, while a fifth chatted to a stranger online and one in 10 received a sexual message online.
Where is the ‘stranger danger’ here? Any parent would be horrified if a stranger approached their child and had an explicit conversation with them in real life, but it’s happening every day behind closed doors via social media.
Meanwhile, studies suggest millions of children are being bullied on social media. Bullying is nothing new, but social media allows this abuse to follow children home and they can’t escape it. The Anti Bullying Alliance found almost a fifth (17.9 per cent) of 11-15-year-olds were being bullied on social media.
Additionally, algorithms on social media have evolved to keep feeding people what they have previously engaged with, creating ‘bubbles’ that can lead to distorted views of reality. This is a harm that impacts everyone, but for children who are still developing, allowing them to keep being fed potentially extreme views in this way is dangerous and damaging to their mental health.
In my view, these harms far outweigh any potential benefits of children using social media and putting extra barriers in place to protect them from these harms during a critical period in their development should be welcomed.
The ban appears to so far have been accepted with relief in Australia and there is no reason a similar ban could not be rolled out in the UK.
Laura Purkess is a personal finance expert at Investing Insiders
NO: A ban will just throw young people into the deep end at 16
Having worked at Twitter I’m of course not naive to the perils of social media (especially in the hands of a billionaire egomaniac) but, as with any ban, nor am I ignorant of the law of unintended consequences. Outlaw the current apps and they’ll soon be replaced by much worse alternatives with much less interest in doing the right thing.
The Dead Internet Theory argues that the web is already dominated by AI-generated content, with humans mere bystanders to an algorithmic content feed built for synthetic engagement, largely regardless of truth, checks and balances.
Banning under-16s from social media might not change this, but it does remove an entry point for many who join to find friends, cultures, communities and support, and with it, an introduction into the good of the internet, not just chucking them in at the deep end once they’re of age.
It’s also an introduction where future engineers, designers and moderators first engage with the systems we’ll actually need if we’re serious about resisting the looming AI slopmageddon. Excluding teenagers from mainstream platforms risks accelerating this future rather than preventing it.
There will always be a case for greater digital literacy but above all else we have to stop pretending social media exists in a vacuum. This false dichotomy is exactly why we get het up about debates like this rather than tackling the bigger question about why, as a society, are we so increasingly fragmented and angry? That’s the problem we all need to solve.
Sam Hodges is executive director of corporate at The Romans and former head of comms at Twitter
THE VERDICT
When Australia announced it was implementing a social media ban for under-16s in late 2024, it appeared extreme. But just over a year on, and it’s fair to say the mood has shifted. Public opinion strongly supports a ban (74 per cent support, according to YouGov last month), while the UK this week announced it was launching a consultation on the matter. Denmark, France, Norway, New Zealand and Greece too are all expected to follow Australia’s example. But have they got it right?
Ms Perkins thinks so, and she has the stats to back it up, with little doubt many young people are using social media in harmful ways. But Mr Hodges is right to mention the good ways too. Finding communities, engaging with new tech and becoming media savvy are all also functions of social media, and ones that will only become more important for young people. Ultimately, Australia has taken a bold punt, and the UK should use this to its advantage. Bans come with unintended consequences. The UK has a valuable opportunity to watch and learn before making any brash decisions of its own.