The Conservative Party have said they would ban social media for children under the age of 16 if they came into power.
Having previously called for mobile phone bans in schools in England, the Conservatives want to further restrictions on social media use for “protection of children and freedom for adults,” said Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.
In a statement released on X, Badenoch said “social media is harming our children. Far too little is being done to protect them from violent and sexual content online.”
Concerns surrounding the use of social media with teenagers has rapidly increased following the misuse of AI tools on platforms such as X, in which reports were made of AI GROK being used to digitally undress people in images with Ofcom undergoing an investigation into the app.
In December, Australia introduced an under 16s social media ban, with anyone under the age restriction being unable to create an account on platforms such as TikTok, X, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and Threads. This also included existing profiles which were deactivated if having been made by someone under 16 years old.
Research from the Northern Ireland Young Life and Times survey in 2025 revealed that over half of 16-year-olds have experienced illegal and/or harmful behaviours on social media site, with young women being more likely to experience this behaviour online.
“Use of social media has a negative impact on everybody. I think young people especially are more vulnerable to absorbing and engaging on multiple social media platforms,” said Sinn Féin Councillor Cara McShane.
“I think having an all-out ban might be unworkable, there has to be tougher age verification standards, limits on harmful algorithms and accountability for platforms that fail to protect children. Unless there is stronger regulations of tech companies this will continue.”
TikTok, a popular video app with 83% of UK users being under 35, have released a calendar template which aims to help parents manage their children’s screen time.
“There’s a job for parents to become more aware and educated themselves, that there are existing apps that they can use to help themselves regulate their own children’s use of social media in terms of hours spent on screens, what content they’re accessing and who they’re engaging with.”
“We all know there’s certainly positives and benefits for social media, there just needs to be tougher regulations and those platforms held more accountable.”
McShane added, “The headlines in the last few days of AI applications being able to be used to post indecent images is certainly very alarming and hopefully this is a wake up call for us all.”
