London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan is expected to publicly back a ban on social media for children under-16, saying it is “the only way to stem the harms”.
Campaigners, including bereaved parents of children whose deaths were linked to social media, have called on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to bring in an Australia-style ban.
The Government’s consultation on children’s online experiences, which recently concluded, had floated measures such as a ban for under-16s, the introduction of app curfews, and limits on highly addictive features.
While Sir Keir has promised "game-changer" action on the issue and vowed to move quickly, he has not yet committed to a specific ban on under-16s accessing social media platforms.
His Labour Party colleague Sir Sadiq had previously advocated for monitoring the impact of Australia’s ban, but is now publicly backing such a measure.
London’s mayor is expected to say tech firms must prove their services are safe for children or face a ban on being available to under-16s during a speech on Tuesday to an audience of engineers, founders and investors.
He will say: “From food to pharmaceuticals, almost every company has to prove that its products are safe before they’re sold. I see no reason why social media firms shouldn’t do the same.
“Until they can prove that their platforms are safe for kids, a ban is the only way to stem the harms we know are happening right now.”
But he is also expected to add that a ban alone will not solve all the issues, warning: “Rather than just restricting access to social media, we must reimagine it.”
He will add: “Londoners deserve platforms which prioritise people, not just profit, where connection does not carry such a heavy cost.”
He will also call on tech companies to “explain how misogyny spreads like wildfire on their platforms – and publicly set out how they’ll adjust their algorithms to stop it”, adding: “If they refuse to act, then the state must step up.”
The mayor will insist the “era of impunity is over” and that tech firms “must face the consequences” if they cannot protect people on their platforms.
Announcing a £1 million package of measures to support boys and young men across the capital, he will warn that online misogyny risks “a lost generation of young men”.
He will brand so-called manosphere influencers “snake oil salesmen who take advantage of young men’s ambition to peddle pound shop misogyny,” adding that misogynistic content can be “catastrophic for the young men who consume it” and have “terrifying” consequences for the women close to them.
Warning of a system “rigged” in favour of such harmful voices online, he will claim such voices are not only being “allowed to pump out poison” but rewarded for it.
He will also call for efforts to engage young men amid the conversations around “toxic masculinity”, rather than risk leaving many feeling “alienated” and “looking for validation elsewhere”.
His office said the £1 million package of measures includes supporting vulnerable boys in schools and pupil referral units through the mayor’s violence reduction unit, funding a new programme for fathers and putting footballing mentors into communities across the capital.
