Addictive social media features should not be allowed, the Prime Minister has said, warning the next generation would not forgive the Government if it did not act.
In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, Sir Keir Starmer signalled his Government was preparing to take action to curb functions that keep young people hooked on social media.
That could see an end to features such as infinite scrolling or “streaks” that reward daily use of an app.
Arguing such features “shouldn’t be permitted”, Sir Keir said: “This is the platforms trying to get children to stay on for longer, to get addicted. I can’t see that there’s a case for that, and therefore I can see we’re going to have to act.”
The Government has faced calls to ban social media use for under-16s outright, and is currently consulting on such a proposal along with other restrictions.
In his interview, the Prime Minister said he was “open minded” about a ban, but was clear that things would change.
He said: “We’ll go through the consultation, but I think I’ll be absolutely clear things will not stay as they are.
“This is going to change. I don’t think the next generation would forgive us if we didn’t act now.”
His comments come days after a landmark court case in the United States that saw a jury find Meta and Google liable for a woman’s childhood social media addiction.
In a potentially precedent-setting decision, the jury in California recommended the 20-year-old plaintiff be awarded six million dollars (£4.4 million) in damages.
Both Meta and Google plan to appeal, but the Prime Minister said the decision could mark “a turning point” leading to “much stricter content restriction”.
A Government source said: “Nothing is off the table when it comes to protecting children online.
“We’ve shown we are prepared to take action. The PM stood up for the vulnerable against Grok and won that battle.
“We’ve got further to go but we won’t let parents face this battle alone, we are on their side.”
Sir Keir himself delivered a similar message on a visit to a school in south-east London on Friday, telling parents he was ready for a battle with tech companies over children’s screen time and social media use.
He told parents: “They want more children to spend more time online and we’ve got to fight them and be clear whose side we’re on here.”
