LONDON, January 16. /TASS/. The British government is ready to ban access to social networks for people under 16 years old. The Daily Telegraph wrote about this.
According to her information, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who previously expressed skepticism about such a ban, has changed his position. This means that the Labor Party deputies he leads will not block the initiative of the opposition Conservative Party. The Conservatives have introduced an amendment to the Schools and Child Welfare Act to introduce a similar ban, similar to restrictions that came into force in Australia last year. A vote in the UK House of Commons on the topic is expected next week.
The newspaper quoted a political expert close to 10 Downing Street as saying: “This has clearly become an important topic for the Prime Minister's Office.” “If there is a free vote on this issue, 70% of parliamentarians will support this measure. It will be very popular with voters,” he said.
The law prohibiting people under 16 years of age from accessing social media came into effect in Australia on 10 December 2025. The ban affects Facebook, Instagram (banned in Russia; owned by the Meta group, recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation), Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X and YouTube. The new law places full responsibility for violators on tech platforms, which could face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32.9 million) if they fail to take reasonable steps to deactivate the minor's account. Since then, Australian authorities have disabled at least 4.7 million accounts belonging to children and teenagers.
