Top Government advisor tells LBC children should 'stop using social media full stop' as he slams Online Safety Act
A top Government official has thrown his weight behind a full ban on social media use among under-16s after the Online Safety Bill took effect last week.
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Jonathan Hall KC, the Government’s Independent Reviewer of State Threats Legislation and Terrorism Legislation, told LBC's Nick Ferrari that he supports such a ban.
He pointed to similar measures rolled out in Australia while saying he supports such bans.
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Speaking on LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast today, Mr Hall said: "If you want my honest answer, and I've looked at this topic for a long time now, I think that children have got to stop using social media full stop.
"And I think we need to go down the line that Australia has pioneered. In my dreams, we would just have kids with dumb phones and a few apps, and that would be distributed on the NHS.
"And if the Government was really bold, they would grasp this bull by the horns."
Mr Hall's intervention comes amid the roll-out of the Online Safety Act, legislation passed under the Conservative government which enforces age verification checks on potentially harmful content on social media.
The law, which came into full effect days ago, has been criticised by many as eroding free speech in Britain.
Mr Hall criticised the Act, saying that it is not the solution to children and young people being harmed by online content.
He told Nick: "I'm afraid the Online Safety Act is not gonna be the solution."