Online safety campaigners have a message for Keir Starmer: before you go full Australia and ban under-16s from all social media, maybe just block the apps that are actively terrible for them.
The NSPCC, Molly Rose Foundation, and Smartphone Free Childhood have sent the prime minister a letter arguing that tech platforms shouldn't be allowed to offer “risky” features like infinite scrolling, disappearing messages, and push notifications to teenagers. Instead of a blanket ban, they want platforms to prove they're safe before serving up their services to minors.
“We believe a binary debate between banning children from social media or not can oversimplify what is a complex issue,” they wrote, in what is perhaps the most reasonable take on children's internet safety we've heard all year. Their proposal: make platforms' ability to offer accounts to kids conditional on demonstrating they're actually safe.
In Australia, the approach is blunter - under-16s are locked out of apps like Instagram and TikTok if they enable social interaction or user posting. UK campaigners prefer a scalpel over a sledgehammer: limit access based on whether an app is “safe” or not.
The letter arrives a week before the UK government's consultation on new online safety measures closes, which includes the possibility of an under-16 ban and restrictions on features like livestreaming and location sharing. The government has already promised to do something - the question is what.
The campaigners want apps vetted before under-16s can use them, with new features also requiring safety checks before launch. The whole shebang would be overseen by Ofcom, the communications watchdog already tasked with enforcing the Online Safety Act.
The letter represents an unusual moment of unity among groups that have previously disagreed on whether a formal age limit is the way to go. The MRF and NSPCC have stopped short of calling for one, arguing it would create a safety “cliff edge” for teens, while Smartphone Free Childhood has been all in on restricting access for under-16s.
“What's so significant about this moment is that organisations across civil society are aligning around a simple principle: access to our children should be treated as a privilege that must be earned, not an automatic right,” said Joe Ryrie, director of Smartphone Free Childhood.
Andy Burrows, CEO of the Molly Rose Foundation - established by the family of Molly Russell, who took her own life after viewing harmful content - said the government should make safe app design a “precondition for tech firms to do business in the UK.” The letter was also signed by the Future of Technology Institute, FlippGen, and the People vs Big Tech coalition.
A government spokesperson said ministers shared the group's determination to keep children safe online, adding that it's not a question of “whether we will act, but how.” Which, frankly, is about as committal as a politician gets these days.