UK upper house approves social media ban for under-16s

Britain’s upper house of parliament voted on Wednesday in favour of banning children under 16 from using social media, increasing pressure on the government to follow a similar move adopted in Australia.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that he was not ruling out any options and pledged to act to protect children, but his government wants to wait for the outcome of a consultation due this summer before introducing legislation.

Calls have grown across opposition parties and within the governing Labour Party for Britain to mirror Australia, where under-16s have been barred from social media platforms since December 10.

The amendment, proposed by opposition Conservative peer John Nash and co-sponsored by Labour and Liberal Democrat peers, passed the House of Lords by 261 votes to 150.

“Tonight, peers put our children’s future first,” Nash said. “This vote begins the process of stopping the catastrophic harm that social media is inflicting on a generation.”

Before the vote, Downing Street said the government would not accept the amendment, which now moves to the Labour-controlled House of Commons. More than 60 Labour MPs have urged Starmer to support a ban.

Public figures, including actor Hugh Grant, have also backed the proposal, arguing that parents alone cannot counter the harms caused by social media.

Some child-protection groups have warned that an outright ban could create a false sense of security.

A YouGov poll conducted in December found that 74 percent of Britons supported banning under-16s from social media. Britain’s Online Safety Act already requires robust age-verification for access to harmful content.