Lisa Nandy says under-16s social media ban is only a 'staging post' in UK government's online safety drive
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has warned that the UK government’s planned under-16 social media ban is only the beginning of a wider push to regulate online platforms and protect children from harmful content.
Lisa Nandy has warned technology companies that the UK government’s planned ban on social media for under-16s is only a "staging post" in a wider crackdown on online harms.
The culture secretary said ministers intended to take a more interventionist approach to regulating digital platforms, arguing that the state should play a greater role in shaping online spaces.
Nandy said ahead of her speech at the Labour Party conference: "We shouldn’t accept that this is the end. This is a staging post to what must be a very active interventionist state, policing and regulating the online space so that people are safe."
The government announced earlier this year that under-16s would be prevented from accessing high-risk social media platforms, while safer services would face additional restrictions.
The measures are due to come into force in March 2027 and are expected to cover platforms including TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram.
They will also introduce tighter age-verification requirements and restrictions on features such as infinite scrolling and algorithmically recommended content for some 16- and 17-year-olds.
A government consultation on the plans received more than 116,000 responses, with 85 per cent of parents saying the risks of social media outweighed its benefits.
Nandy said the government should not accept a situation where social media platforms are considered so dangerous that removing children from them is the only solution.
She said: "If we were in a situation where we were saying our town centres are now so unsafe that we’ve decided that every child is going to have to stay in their bedrooms, people would rightly be up in arms.
"How have we got to a point where we’re saying these social media sites are so harmful and dangerous that we cannot conceive of any way of protecting our children except to remove them altogether? This ends now."
Nandy also criticised the reliance on private technology companies to regulate online spaces, saying the internet had been "entirely outsourced to the private sector".
The MP said: "It’s not acceptable to outsource this to [Elon] Musk or anybody else."
She acknowledged that Ofcom, which oversees enforcement of the Online Safety Act, faced challenges in ensuring companies comply with the rules.
The politician said: "Laws are only as good as the ability to enforce them."
Nandy also backed the idea of a public-service algorithm, saying the UK needed to invest in and shape technology if it wanted to become a leader in online safety.
