Labour has let down parents across the country, writes Laura Trott

Each of those parents has suffered an unimaginable loss due to social media taking their child’s life.

They are courageously fighting for change so that other families do not have to go through the same pain. 

These parents came to Parliament hoping the Government would finally act. Instead, Labour chose delay over action. 

What makes that decision even harder to understand is what happened only weeks earlier in the United States.

On 25 March 2026, a jury in Los Angeles delivered a landmark verdict against two social media giants.

They found the companies responsible for injuries suffered by a young woman throughout her childhood. The conclusion was clear.

These platforms were designed to be addictive. The risks to young people were known and the companies chose not to act.

That jury did not ignore the evidence but sadly Keir Starmer and the Labour Party still are.

Here in the UK, we are by standers while other countries wake up to the harms.

This ruling should have forced the Government to stop dragging its feet.

It confirms what parents, teachers and health professionals have warned for years aggressive, addictive algorithms are damaging children’s mental health and, in the worst cases, costing them their lives.

Instead of taking decisive action, Labour MPs voted only for powers that would allow ministers to act at some point in the future, if they chose to do so.

Ministers have repeatedly failed to say whether they support a ban, and the powers they backed do not require them to take any action at all.

That is not good enough. It does not come close to meeting the scale of the challenge we face. 

The Government’s consultation document offers a worrying insight into its thinking. It suggests social media benefits children because they can post dance videos on TikTok or share artwork on Instagram.

This reflects a serious failure to understand what is really happening on these platforms. Posting dance videos can become a gateway to darker forms of validation.

Young girls are encouraged to commercialise their bodies and receive digital gifts through features such as TikTok rewards, which can be converted into real money. In practice, this creates financial incentives for children to post increasingly provocative material in pursuit of attention and money.

This is a disturbing business model that feeds on the vulnerability of our children and it must be challenged.

Labour must now get a grip.

These companies have the ability to make their platforms safe if they choose to do so, but they are refusing to do so.

Until they act, we should not allow our children to sustain their business models or participate in what is effectively a vast social experiment.

Other countries have already taken decisive steps. The United Kingdom should follow their lead.

A clear societal signal that these platforms are not safe for children would force companies to look again at their responsibilities and take action they already have the power to take.

Until they do, they should not have access to our children. 

Parents across the country will feel deeply let down by Labour’s position. 

I will continue to stand with the bereaved parents who are fighting for other people’s children.

I will continue to stand with families who are frightened and want the Government to act. And I will continue to stand with the children being exposed to harm.

I will not stop until Labour makes a clear commitment to ban social media for under 16s and sets out a timetable to deliver it because children deserve better.

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Laura Trott is the Shadow Education Secretary.

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