Starmer under pressure to back under-16 social media ban ahead of crunch vote
The Government is under pressure to support a Lords-proposed ban on social media for under-16s ahead of a crunch vote on Wednesday.
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As part of the passage of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, peers have tabled an amendment to restrict British youngsters from using social media.
This is the second time that the measure has been tabled by the Lords, with the first attempt voted down amid Government opposition earlier this year.
The opposition from Labour comes despite having announced a consultation into a potential ban themselves.
The consultation sets out to find out the best way to "ensure that children have healthy online experiences".
The examination of measures to curb online addiction will close on May 26.
Sir Keir Starmer said plans could be unveiled before the end of the year, and other policies to curb phone addiction among children.
He said: "You saw in the last government, we had an Online Safety Act, which is good, because it restricts what's available online.
"The trouble is, it took eight years from the original idea to get to an outcome; we can't have eight years when it comes to social media and whether we ban it or [put] massive restrictions in place.
"So, we've taken the powers to make sure we can act within months, not years.“
The calls come after Australia became the world's first nation to implement the ban last year.
The measure resulted in several countries either bringing in or announcing their intention to implement similar bans.
Sir Keir Starmer has also previously signalled his Government was preparing to take action to curb functions that keep young people hooked on social media.
That could see an end to features such as infinite scrolling or "streaks" that reward daily use of an app.
Arguing such features "shouldn't be permitted", Sir Keir said: "This is the platforms trying to get children to stay on for longer, to get addicted. I can't see that there's a case for that, and therefore I can see we're going to have to act."