The House of Lords votes in favour of a cross-party amendment which seeks to restrict U16s accessing harmful social media platforms

Yesterday, the House of Lords voted decisively in favour of Amendment 94A, 261 votes to 150, backing regulation of access to social media for under-16s.

The day before the vote, the Government announced a consultation on children’s use of technology. As Baroness Diana Barran made clear in the Lords, a consultation does not feel like leadership.

The nation has already spoken: “We don’t need another national conversation.”

Parents are deeply concerned.
Children are being harmed.
And delay is not neutral. It has consequences.

Lord Nash was equally clear: the evidence for action is “overwhelming”, with support ranging from medical professionals, to our police and national intelligence community, to teachers, to hundreds of thousands of parents.

The amendment will now be passed back to the House of Commons where the Government will be pressed hard by MPs, including from the Labour benches, to do much more than host a national conversation about children’s use of tech. 

The SafeScreens legal team are proud to have drafted the amendment for Lord Nash. This amendment is a crucial step in addressing the significant influence that big tech companies have on our children’s digital lives and a vital measure to break the hold social media companies currently exert over our children and a much needed step in the right direction of ensuring that big tech is held accountable for the safety and wellbeing of young users.

We commend Lord Nash’s tireless work in bringing this issue to the forefront, and we believe this amendment marks an important milestone in safeguarding our children online.

We support this amendment, which seeks to ensure a future where products and services are designed with children’s safety in mind.

The message from the Lords is unmistakable:
• We have the evidence
• We have public support
• And we owe it to children to act now