Parents plead with MPs to press ahead with social media ban for under 16s
Debate over a social media ban for under 16s has become a "false choice" between age limits and platform reform, a think tank warns, as parents plea for action over "risky" delays.
MPs are to see a critical vote today over proposals, following in the footsteps of Australia which has brought in a minimum age limit for sites such as Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok.
Bereaved parents, whose children died after experiencing harms linked to online platforms, have called on MPs to press ahead urgently, warning any consultation will only add delays.
Now, think tank Centre for Young Lives backs calls for action, arguing that waiting for stronger evidence risks exposing yet another generation of children to "avoidable" harm.
And in a report published today, it calls for the burden of proof to fall on tech giants to prove their products are safe before they can be marketed to children.
Haroon Chowdry, chief executive of the Centre for Young Lives, said: "Waiting for the perfect evidence is simply baking in delay, and delay means more children exposed to harm.
"We need to treat this as a burning platform. Children need MPs and the Government to be brave, and to protect them from the grip of addictive apps and a business model that sees young people as a commodity to exploit for vast profit."
For too long, he said, the burden of proof has been on families and researchers to prove social media is harmful, rather than the other way round.
"Just as we expect with toys, cars or any other consumer product, platforms should have to demonstrate that their products are safe before children are exposed to them," he added.
Bereaved parents, writing to MPs ahead of today's vote, have pleaded with them to reject any delay and vote to raise the age limit for "harmful" social media platforms.
Close to two dozen parents, whose children have all died after experiencing harms linked to online platforms, have signed the letter.
Alarmed at the prospect that further consultation might still be needed, they said: "“Online safety has already been debated at length.
"The harms have been examined extensively and the evidence continues to grow."
Today's report warns that with some 96 per cent of young people aged 13 - 17 using social media, the debate must centre not on age versus safety but on both for reform.
Among calls is a levy on social media companies to fund spaces for children to play, with youth services or affordable sports, and safer online alternatives.
This is a landscape changing faster than research can catch up, it adds, while choosing for children to 'opt out' is not a realistic or fair solution given today's social dynamics.
Instead, it calls for digital harm to be treated as a systemic, population level risk, rather than one to be solved by parents' vigilance or behaviour changes.
Mr Chowdry warned this must see urgent action. He added: “MPs have a clear opportunity today to reclaim childhood and begin to break the stranglehold of big tech."