{"id":4089,"date":"2026-03-10T11:13:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=4089"},"modified":"2026-03-10T11:13:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:13:33","slug":"mps-vote-against-social-media-ban-for-under-16s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=4089","title":{"rendered":"MPs vote against social media ban for under 16s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"MPs vote against social media ban for under 16s\" width=\"620\" height=\"500\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"w-full object-cover rounded-md\" style=\"color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg' viewBox='0 0 620 500'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'\/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'\/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'\/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'\/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3C\/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAQAAACEN3D\/AAAAL0lEQVR42mP4z8DAwMiAARgZGJhY+P\/\/PwMDAwPDfwYGBgaGhgYGhgYGAAD9Hwlr5xRngAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg=='\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E&quot;)\" src=\"https:\/\/cms.joe.co.uk\/uploads\/2025\/12\/JOE-feature-image-template-2025-12-11T154436.682.png?height=576&amp;width=1024\"\/><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h2>But it could still happen<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose drop-cap \">\n<p>Members of Parliament have voted against a proposal to ban under-16s from using social media in the UK.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>While a ban could still be coming down the track, this is will not happen before the government finishes a consultation, as backers of a ban have accused ministers of \u201cdither and delay\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The Conservatives had pushed for the move and it had been backed by the House of Lords, but was defeated in the Commons on Monday night by 307 votes to 173.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Australia became the first country in the world to enforce a ban back in December, and other nations, including in Europe, have been flirting with the idea since then, as calls for a ban in the UK have also gained traction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been accused of \u201cdither and delay\u201d by announcing the UK government will consult on a possible ban, without committing to one, as Liberal Democrats said his stance was \u201cnot good enough\u201d and \u201cfamilies need concrete assurances now\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>On the amendment to the education bill there was abstention by some 107 Labour MPs, including Sadik Al-Hassan, who told the Commons parents were \u201clocked in a daily battle that they simply cannot win alone, fighting platforms that have been specifically designed to keep children hooked\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>However, education minister Olivia Bailey cited concerns from children&#8217;s charities that an outright ban on under-16s using social media could drive them towards \u201cless regulated corners of the internet\u201d, or leave them \u201cunprepared\u201d for how to navigate the online world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The government&#8217;s consultation would \u201cseek views to help shape our next steps\u201d which could ultimately still include banning children from platforms like Instagram and TikTok, she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>On Monday, one measure MPs did back was to grant additional powers to the technology secretary, Liz Kendall, to potentially introduce such a ban in future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Now, the Children&#8217;s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will return to the House of Lords to be further considered by peers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The Conservative who proposed the amendment, Lord Nash, has vowed to try to have it passed again, adding that there&#8217;s \u201chuge demand across the country to raise the age limit and protect children\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>If both Houses agree the final draft, the bill will then become law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><\/div>\n<p>#MPs #vote #social #media #ban #16s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>But it could still happen Members of Parliament have voted against a proposal to ban under-16s from using social media in the UK. While a ban could still be coming down the track, this is will not happen before the government finishes a consultation, as backers of a ban have accused ministers of \u201cdither and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4076,636,671,221,970,1377,1633,1127],"class_list":{"0":"post-4089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"tag-16s","9":"tag-ban","10":"tag-media","11":"tag-mps","12":"tag-social","13":"tag-social-media","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-vote"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}