Today the Prime Minister announced that the Government will legislate to ban under 16s from social media platforms. Legislation is expected to reach Parliament before Christmas, with protections coming into force next spring.
This is the right decision, and it has been a long time coming.
Across Exmouth and Exeter East, I have heard the same message repeatedly from parents, teachers and young people themselves. The anxiety, the pressure, the relentless comparison that the harms of social media on children's mental health are not abstract - they are very real.
The scale of public feeling was clear from the Government's consultation, which closed last month having received around 116,000 responses, one of the largest in history. Of the parents who took part, 90% backed a ban for under-16s, while more than 83% said the risks of social media outweigh the benefits.
It is worth being honest about how we got here. For months, Conservative MPs pushed hard for exactly this action while Labour ministers resisted. It took sustained public and parliamentary pressure to change course.
The Government has indicated the ban will go further than Australia's comparable restrictions, including overnight curfews for older teenagers and limits on AI chatbots. The detail of how age verification will be enforced, and how it will be made meaningful rather than easily bypassed, will be critical, and I will be watching that closely as the legislation progresses.
But today is genuinely good news for children and for families who have been worried about this for a long time.
