LATIKA M BOURKE: Keir Starmer embraces radical under-16s social media ban as premiership hangs in balance

Keir Starmer says countries will look to the UK as the model to follow, as he belatedly embraced a social media ban he said was even better than Australia’s, in what could be one of the final acts of his dying premiership.

The UK Prime Minister promised to ban social media for children aged under 16, a default built-in but opt-out restriction, as well as a potential nighttime ban for 16 and 17-year-olds, and faster enforcement.

As in Australia, messaging apps WhatsApp and Signal will be exempt, but user-to-user platforms SnapChat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X would all be prohibited for under-16s.

AI chatbots that simulate intimate relationships would be banned for anyone under 18.

He said, unlike Australia, the ban would also apply to gaming and streaming services, to stop adults approaching children unsolicited online.

“We’re not just bringing forward a ban, we’re going further, we’re taking world-leading action on gaming services and live-streaming platforms, where at the moment strangers can contact any child unchecked,” he said.

“Just think about that, is there a situation in the offline world where you would just let your child pair up with a stranger, an adult that you don’t know anything about? No. So we’re taking action on that.

Australia’s e-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman raised significant concerns about compliance with the social media ban, introduced in December last year, with Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube in March.

Around 4.7 million accounts were removed as of March, when the Commissioner handed down her first compliance report, but the same document reported “significant numbers of children aged under 16 are still on social media.”

The Commissioner can impose fines of up to $49.5 million but has not yet issued any penalties, citing the time needed to gather sufficient evidence that platforms had not taken reasonable steps to prevent children using their sites.

The UK’s ban is likely to go to the House of Commons for approval in December and will be effective around the time of the Australian autumn.

Sir Keir said he wanted the UK to be faster than Australia at upholding the ban.

“Certainly, I hope that on the enforcement side, we will do better than that. I think we’ll be better at enforcing it, actually, having learned from the Australian model and having learned from our own experience,” he said.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said through a spokesperson that Australia’s ban risked isolating teens from online communities and information, and driving them to unregulated alternatives.

YouTube, owned by Google, said: “Blanket bans push kids out of such curated, supervised, beneficial experiences and towards anonymous, less-safe services.”

Snapchat mounted a similar case, claiming its platform constituted a majority of private messaging between family and friends, making an outright ban unwarranted.

“It may simply push them (teens) to less safe platforms,” the company claimed.

Sir Keir was originally opposed to a social media ban, which government data showed nine out of ten parents supported.

His conversion came three days before a make-or-break by-election in Makerfield, Manchester, which is being contested by leadership rival and local mayor, Andy Burnham, the so-called “King of the North” and darling of the Labour left.

If successful in Friday’s count, Mr Burnham could immediately challenge Sir Keir for the keys to Number 10.

Sir Keir has haemorrhaged support from MPs he helped get elected in the 2024 election landslide, following the resignation of John Healey as Defence Secretary over the prime minister’s failure to fund defence properly.

Sir Keir denied he was trying to shore up his legacy.

“In relation to the legacy issue, I see this differently, this is a huge issue for the country, this isn’t about any one individual,” he said.

“To try to put that into a particular week when there’s a by-election, that’s not what it’s about, this is a statement about values, who we are as a country, and its a way of actually bringing our country together so for me this is bigger than some of the usual to-and-fro of politics, although there’s plenty of that.”

Sir Keir flagged discussions on the social media ban with fellow world leaders at the G7 in France on Monday, as he unveiled the policy at an early-morning press conference at Number 10 Downing Street, which was attended by The Nightly.

He said he anticipated other world leaders would look to the UK as the model to follow.

“Many countries are grappling with this issue, which is how do we keep our children safe online,” he said.

“I think there will be a coming together of leaders’ political thinking here, as countries will want to learn, just as we wanted to learn from Australia, and explore how far they’ve got, other countries I think, will be now looking to the UK to see whether that doesn’t provide the blueprint for them.”

The host of the G7, French President Emmanuel Macron ha prioritised online child safety as one of this year’s summit, attended by US President Donald Trump, on this year’s agenda.

But Mr Macron did not invite Anthony Albanese to Evian-les-Bains, despite the Australian prime minister nominating the French and UK leaders as his closest allies amongst world leaders.

The President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen, who is examining an EU-wide measure that would be applied across 27 countries, praised Mr Macron’s leadership on the issue.

“I want to thank President Macron for tabling this crucial topic. Because the opportunities of the digital world are clear, but so are the risks,” President von der Leyen said.

“The debate is not whether young people should have access to social media, the debate is whether social media should have access to our children and teenagers, and when.”

Mr Albanese congratulated Sir Keir on X.

“Social media giants operate across borders. By standing together, we can do more to hold them accountable and keep children safe online,” Mr Albanese wrote.