B

Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 16 June 2026

Debate

Social Media Ban for Under-16s

Contribution

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Nash, for his comments and, moreover, for his engagement over the last months—in fact, it was longer—with me on this topic. We will be able to continue that engagement—obviously, there will be scrutiny in the House—but also outside the Chamber. We committed to sharing the regulations with opposition spokespeople and the chairs of the Select Committees for scrutiny, and we will follow through on that. On the definition and the scope, we plan to use the same model as Australia; that would capture user-to-user platforms whose purpose is to enable social interaction and which allow users to post material, alongside algorithms. The details of how those criteria will apply in the UK will be set out later this year. We have also said that purely educational services obviously will not be in scope. On the question of enforcement, as I mentioned earlier, this is an incredibly important part of our thinking and approach. The Secretary of State and the department have interacted frequently with Ofcom. Noble Lords have made clear the importance of effective enforcement by Ofcom, and we have written to Ofcom to ask it to ensure that we can have robust and effective enforcement of this ban. The CEO of Ofcom has written back, confirming that that is what it will take forward. Finally, on geotagging and location services, I will write to the noble Lord on that specific question.

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