The Conservatives calls for the UK to follow Australia’s lead in banning social media for under-16s have received a boost as prominent Labour politician Andy Burnham backs the plan.
The Greater Manchester mayor, commonly cited as a potential successor to Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour Party, said he has found himself agreeing with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s position on a ban.
Badenoch recently said her party would back an under-16s social media ban to help protect young people from addiction and other harms said to be caused by the technology.
“I find myself agreeing with a lot of what Kemi Badenoch is saying about children and social media. It seems to me parents would welcome a cross-party consensus around much bolder action,” Burnham said.
The government as it stands does not plan to enforce such a ban, which came into effect in Australia in December, however, ministers have noted that moves like that are “on the table”.
Whether momentum for a blanket ban on children’s use of social media will grow in Westminster remains to be seen, but already there are conversations within government about banning the platform X altogether.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said following reports that X’s AI chatbot Grok was being used to generate sexually explicit deepfakes that the government would support a ban if Ofcom determined it was necessary.
The regulator launched a formal investigation into the platform on Monday.