Political opinion with Andrew Griffith MP: I would vote for new social media regulations for under 16s

That principle is important and is more under threat than ever. But it does not apply in the same way when we are talking about children. There have always been distinctions in law between adults and those who have not yet reached adult status and laws are in place to protect. The way alcohol is sold is a good example.

This week Parliament will have the chance to vote for regulations to raise the minimum age for access to certain social media services to 16. Such an approach has recently been adopted by Australia where it applies to major services such as TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, Reddit and YouTube.

I would vote for this. For too long existing safeguards have failed to keep pace with the growing evidence of harms posed by social media. The fact is, there will always be content on these platforms which, whilst perfectly legal for adults, is not suitable for children. There is increasing evidence that early and prolonged exposure can cause real harm to children’s mental health and development. The proposals would place a legal duty is on social media companies to take reasonable steps to prevent under-16s from having accounts using age assurance and verification. Enforcement would be against the companies, not the children or their parents, and would be in the form of large fines.

I have met with groups such as Smartphone Free Childhood and welcome the work they are doing. But parental action alone is not enough. Parliament has a responsibility to step in. Protecting children from harm is a duty we cannot ignore.

This is not about rejecting technology or turning back the clock. It is about putting sensible boundaries in place that support parents and children, rather than leaving them to negotiate alone with global technology companies whose incentives will never be fully aligned with children’s wellbeing.