Risks to children on social media ‘can’t go on like this’, PM tells tech bosses

Sir Keir Starmer has told tech bosses that the risks children face on social media “can’t go on like this”, but could not guarantee action by the summer to crack down on harms.

The Prime Minister hauled senior figures from X, Meta, Snap, TikTok, and Google – which owns YouTube – into Downing Street on Thursday to push them to go further on protecting young people as the Government weighs new restrictions.

The meeting came as pressure is building for a social media ban for under-16s, but after MPs again rejected a Lords bid to impose one.

Sir Keir hinted at the possibility of measures to restrict children’s access to social media sites, amid mounting concerns over its impact on their health and safety.

The Labour leader said: “Things can’t go on like this, they must change because right now social media is putting our children at risk.

“In a world in which children are protected, even if that means access is restricted, that is preferable to a world where harm is the price of participation.”

The Prime Minister added: “I am determined we will build a better future for our children, and look forward to working with you on this.

“I do think this can be done. I think the question is not whether it is done, the question is how it is done.”

Among those gathered inside No 10 were Wifredo Fernandez, X’s director of global government affairs; Alistair Law, TikTok’s director of public policy and government affairs for Northern Europe; Markus Reinisch, Meta’s vice president for public policy in Europe; and Kate Alessi, vice president and managing director of Google UK and Ireland.

The “key ask” was that companies “must be able to show real-world changes that make their platforms safer for children” and that “there must be no delay in them taking action”, Downing Street said afterwards.

Sir Keir would not commit to a timeline when pressed on when the Government might begin making changes.

Asked whether he would act by the summer, the Prime Minister told LBC after the meeting: “We’ll get through the consultation, obviously, but the reason we took the powers early was to make sure that once the consultation is over and we’ve evaluated it, we can move very quickly.”

The talks came midway through the Government’s consultation on how to protect children online, which could include an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s, limits on addictive features, and stronger controls on AI chatbots.

Ministers are under continued pressure to follow Australia’s lead after the country in December became the first to block uner-16s from some platforms, with other nations including Spain and Greece pursuing similar policies.

But MPs on Wednesday rejected a second bid from the Lords to bring in an immediate social media ban on under-16s.

Peers have twice voted to introduce an age limit in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill but both efforts have been seen off in the Commons.

Asked whether the Government was pushing social media firms to tackle harms in preparation for a rejection of an under-16s ban, Sir Keir’s spokesman said “I don’t think that’s a fair representation” and that “we will act swiftly once that consultation ends”.

Education minister Olivia Bailey said the Government’s consultation, closing on May 26, “allows us to address a much wider range of services and features” than the “narrow amendment proposed in the House of Lords”.

Sir Keir has previously been hesitant to support an outright ban but has signalled he will take action to curb features such as infinite scrolling that keep young users hooked to social media.

Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, urged the Prime Minister to “decisively commit to strengthening regulation to make unsafe and addictive design a thing of the past”.

Ellen Roome, who believes her 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died while attempting an online challenge, criticised the Downing Street meeting as a “stunt”.

“Social media companies have sat in rooms with parents like me – parents who have lost their children – and heard exactly what their platforms do. They have heard it in meetings and they have heard it in courtrooms. And still they do nothing. This meeting will be no different.

“It is just a stunt designed to distract from the fact that the Government told its own MPs to vote against raising the age limit.”