Children face restrictions on smartphone use to prevent them from “scrolling for hours” on social media.
The new bill, backed by a bipartisan group of parliamentarians, aims to restrict access to addictive social media content such as Tik Tok and Snapchat for under-16s.
The Safe Phone Bill, to be announced on Tuesday, would “raise the age of internet majority from 13 to 16” and ban young children from accessing standard social media sites without parental consent.
It would also compulsorily prohibit the use of mobile phones in schools and require principals to prevent children from accessing mobile phones during class.
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Sousa (pictured) supports new legislation to restrict under-16s from accessing addictive social media content such as Tik Tok and Snapchat
The Safe Phone Bill, to be announced on Tuesday, would “raise the age of internet majority from 13 to 16” and ban young children from accessing standard social media sites without parental consent.
And Ofcom will be given new powers to enforce codes of practice aimed at preventing children from accessing “addictive” sites.
Labor MP Josh McAllister, who is introducing the proposal as a private member’s bill, said the measure would act as a “digital seatbelt” to protect young people online and provide reassurance to parents worried about their children’s phone use. He said it would be.
Mr McAllister, a former teacher who led the review of children’s social services in the previous government, said: “There is growing evidence that children are doomed to scroll for hours a day, causing widespread harm.” said.
“We need a ‘seatbelt’ bill regarding children’s social media use.
“Adults find it hard enough to manage their screen time, so why would we expect children to manage this addictive content without common rules?”
“Parents are finding themselves in an impossible predicament: whether to remove their children from social media or expose them to content harm and addiction.
“Countries around the world are now taking bold action and our children are at risk of being left behind. It’s time for a national debate here in the UK.”
Ministers are said to be interested in the proposal, and government support will be needed for it to become law.
Dame Rachel de Sousa said: “Children are telling us they want to enjoy the benefits of the online world and that they want to be protected from harmful content and harmful behavior.” This bill ensures a proactive approach to keeping children safe online, which is needed in an age of evolving technology. ”
Earlier this month, Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said he was “keeping an open mind” about the steps needed to give children more protection online.
Kit Malthouse, a Conservative former education secretary who is backing the bill, said: “The growing evidence of the impact smartphones are having on children is deeply worrying.”
“Therefore, clarifying expectations from health care providers and regulators and their obligations to children should be a step in the right direction.”
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Sousa also supported the proposal, saying it would strengthen online safety laws and “ensure tech companies always prioritize children’s safety over profit margins”. .
She added: “Children say they want to enjoy the benefits of the online world and be protected from harmful content and harmful behavior.”
“This bill ensures the proactive approach to keeping children safe online that is needed in an era of evolving technology.”
The bill falls short of an outright ban on smartphone use, which some campaigners are pushing for.
Instead, the age at which children can consent to their data being used by social media companies will be raised from 13 to 16. Supporters of the bill believe that without access to data, it would be much harder for technology companies to target addictive or harmful targets. Content for young people.
However, the bill also requires ministers to review the success of this measure, leaving behind the idea of restricting users under the age of 16 to so-called “dumb phones” that cannot run social media apps in the future. Become.
An internal TikTok document claimed that the social media site, hugely popular with teenagers, could gain new users within 35 minutes.
A TikTok spokesperson told the Times: “We have robust security measures in place, including proactively removing users suspected of being underage, including default screen time limits, family pairing, and “We have voluntarily launched safety features such as default privacy for minors.”
