'This is not about free speech’: Technology Secretary hits back after Trump urges UK to scrap under 16s social media ban

Speaking to Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, Liz Kendall insisted the ban is “not about stopping freedom of speech” after White House officials criticised the UK's plans for an Australia-style ban on youngsters using the platforms.

“Well, they're entitled to their views, but I'm the British Secretary of State and I'm going to make the decision based on the interests of British children, young people and their families," she told Nick.

She added: "Being groomed online is not about stopping freedom of speech."

It comes after a submission to the Government's consultation on a social media ban was made by the US Embassy in Britain.

In the document, the US warned against “prescribed one-size-fits-all government restrictions” and “blunt regulatory instruments” to tackle harms online.

The notice, which was later published by the embassy, said the White House favoured “targeted requirements”on “pornographic and adult commercial content ... rather than broad social media bans”.

It also raised concerns about age restrictions causing "disproportionate compliance burdens on American companies”.

Other proposals from the consultation are app curfews and limits on more addictive features.

The latest intervention from the US comes after a rift opened up in the "Special Relationship" after Vice President JD Vance blamed Henry Nowak's murder on a "mass invasion" of migrants into Britain.

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Previously speaking to LBC, bereaved mother Ellen Roome called on legislators to press ahead with a ban without delay as “millions and millions” of children remain exposed to harmful content online.

Ms Roome's world was turned upside down when she found her 14-year-old boy lifeless in his bedroom in their Cheltenham home on April 13, 2022.

The online safety campaigner suspects her son Jools Sweeney died while doing an online challenge.

The intervention was revealed by the Telegraph, after Sir Keir was reported to be on the brink of announcing the ban.

Speaking to LBC on Friday, the Prime Minister said he had an “incredibly moving” meeting with grieving families calling for a ban.

He said “nobody is getting a free pass” as he pledged to take on big tech firms.

In a warning to big tech, he told LBC’s Political Editor Natasha Clark: “The message to the tech companies was very simple, which is, nobody's getting a free pass here. Things are going to change. I was very clear with them."

The PM added: “Nobody's getting a free pass here. I'm afraid we're not going to stick with what we've got here.”

Number 10 has said it will act quickly but has yet refused to confirm the ban.

Trump’s intervention comes just days after US Vice-President JD Vance weighed in on the row over murdered student Henry Nowak.

Mr Vance said Henry’s murder could be attributed to the "mass invasion of migrants" and said the "only response" was "righteous anger".

However the killer, Vickrum Digwa, is British and was born in the UK.

Mr Vance said Henry Nowak had died "the same way a civilisation dies: abandoned and handcuffed by authorities who neither trusted nor cared for him".

The killing had been as "tragic as it is enraging" and Nowak, Vance said, would still be alive today "if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants".

The US state department, led by Marco Rubio, also weighed in: “Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilisational decline. They must be rejected across the West. The United States sends our condolences to the family of Henry Nowak and the people of the United Kingdom at this troubling time.”

David Lammy, the UK’s deputy prime minister, said he did not recognise “this caricature of Britain having a two-tier criminal justice system.”