Children: Social Media

Lord Mohammed of Tinsley Excerpts

Wednesday 10th December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

The noble Viscount makes a really good point—one I was trying to make not as eloquently earlier—that there are good reasons for children to be online. Children of all ages can benefit from being online, but appropriate protections need to be in place, protections which do not lead to unintended consequences. I think our approach, which we are putting in step by step and backing Ofcom to enforce, is the right one at this stage. We are looking very carefully at the evidence as it emerges and looking very carefully at other countries’ experience and not taking things off the table if the evidence leads us in that direction.

[Lord Mohammed of Tinsley (LD)]

My Lords, what steps are the Government taking to ensure that parental controls and education initiatives are keeping pace with the ever-evolving risks that social media poses to our young people right now?

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

The role of parents and of media literacy is, of course, critical. Indeed, as technology evolves, as access changes, the department will be supporting parents and carers with media literacy. From next year, there will be some pilot projects to support families navigate the online space, particularly in critical thinking and in trying to understand misinformation, disinformation and so on. We are also working very closely with the Department for Education to establish some parental support and some parental hubs in order to support parents having some of those quite difficult conversations.