We must act now to give our children their childhood back

When I was a kid, I would spend my summer holidays playing football and hanging out with my friends. I worry that children today are spending too much time on their own at home, online. As parents, we tend to worry so much about the dangers of children going out and about when the reality is that the dangers online can be far more harmful and common.

A few months ago, when the Online Safety Act came into force, I wrote about the urgent need to protect children online. Now, the government has listened and gone further with a major consultation on restricting children’s access to mobile phones and social media. This isn’t about being anti-technology – it’s about being pro-childhood.

Through my work on the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, I have seen how YouTube’s algorithm can cause lasting harms. Our committee’s report heard evidence from organisations like the Centre for Countering Digital Hate showing how social media algorithms push extreme content to young people – including content promoting eating disorders and anorexia, which sits alongside ads from everyday brands like L’Oreal and Ralph Lauren, normalising potentially fatal subject matter.

The government’s consultation examines crucial measures to provide better protection for our children online, including raising the digital age of consent, implementing phone curfews, and restricting addictive design features like infinite scrolling and streaks.

Australia has recently implemented a ban on under 16s using social media. The ban includes platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Kids may still be able to view publicly available content on some services (e.g., watching videos on YouTube without logging in), but they can’t post, comment, message, or interact in the usual ways. We are watching how well this works and UK Ministers will be visiting Australia to learn from their approach.

As everyone knows, supporting families and giving kids the best start in life is what drives me. Based on the evidence I have seen, I don’t believe social media platforms have children’s safety as their top priority. We urgently need a step change to protect our children from cyberbullying, harmful content, privacy risks and social media addiction.

The consultation builds on the Online Safety Act, which came into force last summer and has already delivered results. Age verification is working – eight million people now access adult sites with age checks daily, and children are seeing fewer harmful posts, and platforms face strict punishments for failures.

Sadly, not everyone supports making it safer for our children online. Nigel Farage and Reform want to scrap these vital protections. I think this is dangerous and wrong.

Our children deserve the childhoods we had – full of real connections, outdoor play, and genuine friendships. This consultation is our chance to give them exactly that.