British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told social media companies to “take responsibility” for harmful content on their platforms at a meeting in Downing Street on Thursday, as the government seeks to ban access for under-16s.
Mr Starmer met senior executives from Meta, Snap, YouTube, TikTok and X, who are accused of not doing enough to police harmful content online.
The Prime Minister told them: “Things can’t go on like this, they must change because right now social media is putting our children at risk.
“In a world in which children are protected, even if that means access is restricted, that is preferable to a world where harm is the price of participation.”
He added: “It's clear to me that parents aren't asking us for tweaks at the edges. They're asking us whether a system that clearly isn't working for children should be allowed to continue at all.
“Companies have to grip this and work with us to do better by British children and to demonstrate credibly and quickly how these products can be made appropriate for children.”
The industry leaders present included Ronan Harris, Snap's Europe, Middle East, and Africa president; Wifredo Fernandez, director of global affairs at X; Alistair Law, director of public policy for northern Europe at TikTok; Kate Alessi, vice president for Google UK and Ireland; and Markus Reinisch, Meta's vice president of public policy Europe.
The government is halfway through a nationwide consultation about online safety for children. It asks parents and children about the restrictions they would like to see on social media.
“I will take whatever steps necessary to keep children safe online,” Mr Starmer said before the meeting. “Today is about making sure social media companies step up and take responsibility.”
An Australian-style social media ban for under-16s has been twice rejected by MPs, including on Thursday after the latest amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and School’s Bill.
Dr Jennifer Lee, a London doctor leading the campaign group Health Professionals for Safer Screens, said delays on banning social media for under-16s was “putting this government at risk for looking complicit with big tech”.
“We are here still debating these nuances. Abstention and delay are not neutral. They are harming children, there is digital trauma happening right now,” she said at a community event in Ladbroke Grove, west London.
The UK’s Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall acknowledged that more needed to be done to pressure social media companies to remove harmful content.
“Whatever they say that they're doing … clearly the stuff's still there, so there's more that we need to do,” she said, speaking at the Ladbroke Grove event on Wednesday.
The government consultation also aims to understand at what age a social media ban should come into effect, and is considering additional measures for older children.
The government expects to make its policy proposals before the summer recess and will “act by the end of the year”, Ms Kendall said, deflecting accusations that effective measures were being delayed.
“We're asking, should it be 16, or should it be 13 or other ages? We're also looking at whether some measures like curfews overnight and doom scrolling should also be there for those who are older, maybe 16 or 17,” she said.
Earlier this year, Ms Kendall warned X that it would ban its xAI Grok chatbot if it continued to allow the sexual manipulation of images of women and children, and that nudification applications would be banned under the Crime and Policing Bill.
Ms Kendall was pushed to raise the case of a boy who had “abandoned education” after being threatened and harassed online over a video that is still available on TikTok. His parents and advocacy groups had made numerous requests to have the video removed, and the police were investigating the issue as a possible crime.
She said: “If I can speak to the TikTok person after the [Downing Street] event tomorrow, I will raise that directly.”
There are concerns that a social media ban for under-16s would deny access to news content and reduce their political awareness, as the government also seeks to bring down the voting age to 16.
Ms Kendall said the ban would not apply to all online platforms but to social media. “We're not stopping children from going online to get facts and figures and information that would still be available to them. It's about social media,” she said.
The Online Safety Act, which is being gradually implemented, issued guidance to social media companies targeting children last year. It requires companies to introduce age verification checks and conduct risk assessments.
But critics say that harmful and violent content is still available on the main platforms and the act is ineffective at policing it.
Ms Kendall added: “I've been very clear to [communications watchdog] Ofcom that I expect them to enforce the law of the land, no matter how powerful these companies are. They have power to fine them 10 per cent of their qualifying worldwide revenue.
“They have the power if they repeatedly refused to follow the actual law of the land to stop them from being available in the UK,” she added.
