Technology Secretary vows to be unstoppable in social media harms crackdown

Liz Kendall has said she will be unstoppable in cracking down on social media harms affecting children.

The Technology Secretary is facing pressure to change the rules which social media firms must follow if they operate in the UK.

In a BBC Breakfast interview, Ms Kendall said: “No-one’s going to stop me from doing what I think is right for this country.”

But her former Cabinet colleague Wes Streeting warned lawmakers are “asleep at the wheel” on social media and technology regulation.

“Our approach to mobile phones and social media has been akin to basically saying, ‘kids need to learn how to use woodwork, let’s give three-year-olds, five-year-olds some saws, some nails and hammers, and leave them unsupervised and see what happens, because they need to learn how to use the tools’,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“We wouldn’t do that with traditional tools – we shouldn’t do it with modern tools either.”

A consultation to help the Government decide what action it should take, titled Growing Up In The Online World, closes later on Tuesday.

It could pave the way for an Australia-style ban on under-16s using social media or lead to other measures, such as a limit on scrolling or overnight curfews for children.

Asked if she had already made up her mind on what action to take, Ms Kendall said: “I actually started out in this whole thing open-minded.

“I wouldn’t have had the consultation if I didn’t feel we needed to hear everybody’s views.”

The Technology Secretary said some people are “very, very strongly for a ban” while others have proposed a different “way forward”.

She said parents whose children had died “want immediate action because they do not want to see any more children coming to harm, losing their lives in the way that their children have”.

She continued: “We’ve got the powers now as a Government.

“We can implement the results of it straight away.

“We are not going to take longer than the end of the year.”

Mr Streeting said “legislators, regulators have been asleep at the wheel on this”, telling the Today programme that social media firms were designing platforms that are “addictive – they know that it is harmful and the business model is orientated towards getting kids while they’re young”.

He added that before he stepped down from his role as health secretary earlier this month, he argued for a social media ban at the Cabinet table.

“I’m liberated from the obligations of collective responsibility, which now means I can now say publicly what I think,” he said, referring to the convention that individual ministers speak for the whole Government.

Mr Streeting, who warned the approach of “big tech is behaviour akin to big tobacco”, also said: “I trust Liz Kendall to act quickly following the closure of the consultation today.

“And we must because, as I say, we’re behind the curve.”

Parliament has agreed to give the Government a flexible power to regulate or block children’s use of social media through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act.

After pushing for a by-default ban on the platforms deemed the most harmful, Conservative former education minister Lord Nash secured a commitment from ministers they would introduce “age or functionality restrictions” on social media for under-16s regardless of the consultation outcome.

Lord Nash said: “The Government gave a commitment to Parliament that they would introduce some form of age or functionality restriction on social media for children under 16.

“We now expect them to deliver on that commitment fully and in the shortest possible timeframe.

“Hundreds of thousands of people have made their voices heard, asking the Government to raise the age for access to harmful social media to 16.

“And today the Prime Minister will meet the bereaved parents who have campaigned tirelessly to prevent their experiences happening to anyone else.

“Please, just get on with it.”

Ellen Roome, who believes her son Jools Sweeney died aged 14 while attempting an online challenge, said: “I, and other families who have lost children to social media, will tell the Prime Minister directly: Social media is a product and like any other faulty product causing the deaths of children, it should be restricted until the companies responsible have fixed it and proven it is safe.

“We cannot go on with further speculation – we need clarity.”

But another coalition of children’s organisations warned that focusing solely on age limits risked failing to address the structural drivers of online harms.

The Children’s Coalition for Online Safety, led by 5Rights Foundation and including groups such as the NSPCC and Girlguiding, demanded a broader overhaul of technology companies’ business models and product design choices that risk keeping young users hooked.

In a joint statement, 25 organisations called for a ban on targeted advertising and manipulative design features, a ban on personalised services for under-13s and default safety protections for under-16s with penalties for firms that fall short, stronger regulation of AI systems including child-focused risk assessments and the creation of an independent online safety commissioner.

Leanda Barrington-Leach, executive director at 5Rights Foundation, said: “We will not fix this by tinkering around the edges – by tweaking features or relying on age limits alone.

“The issue is not a single product or setting; it is built into the system itself, into business models and design choices that prioritise engagement, data extraction and profit over children’s wellbeing.”

Rani Govender, NSPCC associate head of policy for child safety online, said politicians must set out a path “requiring platforms to build safety into every device, feature and AI tool from the outset, preventing children from encountering harmful or illegal content, and ensuring they can only access age‑appropriate services through risk-based age ratings”.

More than 70,000 people have engaged with the consultation, according to a Government spokesperson.