Britain’s upper house of parliament voted Wednesday to ban under-16s from using social media, increasing pressure on the government to match a similar ban passed in Australia.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday he was not ruling out any options and promised to take action to protect children, but his government wants to wait for the results of a consultation scheduled for this summer before legislating.
Calls have grown in the opposition and within the ruling Labor Party for the UK to follow Australia, where under-16s have been banned from social media apps since December 10.
Opposition Conservative lawmaker John Nash’s amendment was passed by 261 votes to 150 in the House of Lords, co-sponsored by a Labor peer and a Liberal Democrat.
“Tonight, teammates put our children’s future first,” Nash said. “This vote begins the process of stopping the catastrophic damage that social media is inflicting on a generation.”
Before the vote, Downing Street said the government would not accept the amendment, which now goes to the Labour-controlled Lower House of Commons. More than 60 Labor MPs have urged Starmer to back the ban.
Public figures, including actor Hugh Grant, urged the government to back the proposal, saying parents alone cannot counteract the harms of social media.
Some child protection groups warn that a ban would create a false sense of security.
A YouGov poll in December found that 74% of Britons supported the ban. The Online Safety Act requires secure age verification for harmful content.
