‘Inventive’ teenagers could circumvent a social media ban, MP warns

Ministers have heard warnings that “inventive” teenagers could circumvent a social media ban.

Labour MP Naushabah Khan said on Monday that some parents fear their children have “no pause” from risks beyond their control, even at home.

She made her comments as MPs debated a petition calling for a minimum age on social media, set at 16, which has gathered more than 128,300 signatures.

Caroline Voaden, the Liberal Democrat MP for South Devon, suggested that the definition of harmful material should extend beyond “hardcore” content into “the long hours that children are spending on screens”, while data protection minister Sir Chris Bryant said users consume “large amounts of utter misinformation”.

The minister hinted the Government could bring forward fresh legislation to tackle harmful social media use in the next two or three years.

Ms Khan, the MP for Gillingham and Rainham, said she had spoken to some parents in her Kent constituency concerned about the risks to their children “beyond the sanctuary of their own home – they see no pause, no protection and no escape”.

She told MPs that teenagers “are extremely capable of being inventive and circumventing the rules – this is what teenagers have done since immemorial”.

Ms Khan continued: “The fundamental problem is that these platforms were never designed with the safety of children in mind.

“We will be doing our children a disservice to raise a legal barrier and simply hope that the risk then disappears, because that’s not what’s going to happen.

“Children do deserve more – they deserve more responsibility from social media companies, more urgency from regulators, and perhaps more action from us as elected to this House.”

Tony Vaughan, the Labour MP for Folkestone and Hythe who introduced the debate in Westminster Hall, spoke to an argument against banning younger teenagers from social media, when he warned poorly thought-out rules could “push children into unregulated and more dangerous online spaces”.

He said: “This can’t be about shutting down avenues for young people to socialise with each other.

“And so, whatever action is taken to make it harder for young people to access social media, we have to make sure that other things are going on in society, so they don’t feel that this is the only place they can go to socialise.”

Mr Vaughan had earlier said: “Social media can of course be a wonderful tool, but it’s currently a wild west where there is too much harmful content… being pushed onto young people, and social media companies are simply not doing enough to tackle it.

“The sad fact of the matter is that social media is pushing content that radicalises, catalyses mental health crises, and is highly addictive.”

Ms Voaden turned to social media watchdog Ofcom’s proposed code of practice for user-to-user services.

She warned the document did not address issues around the “myths of the perfect body”, adding: “That’s not hardcore content like online pornography or suicidation videos, it’s the subtle stuff of social media, it’s the addictiveness of it that is really dangerous, and my concern is about the long hours that children are spending on screens, the time spent indoors instead of playing with friends and making real, human connection.”

The MP later continued: “Older children are not experiencing boredom.

“I mean, we all remember standing at bus stops, right?

“You didn’t have a mobile phone, you got bored, you looked at the sky, you looked around you, you watched other people, it’s part of the development of a human brain.”

Sir Chris, on behalf of the Government, also pointed to new duties which social media companies must meet next month to protect their users from illegal content, including terrorism.

He said: “Is it better to make that happen now and bed that in, or is it better to say, ‘right, we’re going to have another piece of legislation now’?

“Now, I would be amazed – I’m not allowed to make commitments on behalf of the Government, but – I would be absolutely amazed if there isn’t further legislation in this field in the next few years brought forward by the Government.”

The minister later added that “nothing is off the table” and said: “I do not doubt for a single instant that this will be the end of the story, that the Online Safety Act will be the end of the story.

“I will be amazed if there weren’t further legislation in this field in some shape or other in the next two or three years.”

He also said social media users consume “large amounts of utter misinformation” by both “state actors” and “pernicious actors in their own right”.