Social Media Ban for Under-16s

Lord Russell of Liverpool Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

The newly appointed chair of Ofcom has highlighted the importance to him of ensuring that Ofcom has the right capabilities in place. In writing to Ofcom to ask about capabilities and ensuring that there will be sufficient funding, we have emphasised how important that is to us. I will come back to my noble friend on the precise timing of some of these products. In general, the letters we exchange with Ofcom are made public but, if she does not mind, I will come back on her specific three questions.

[Lord Russell of Liverpool (CB)]

My Lords, earlier today, I had the enormous privilege to co-host with the noble Baroness, Lady Berger, who I suspect will try to ask the question after me, a group of the bereaved parents. Four of them spoke very bravely in person. Behind them were arrayed the photographs of even more children who lost their lives. They spoke very movingly. They said that while they absolutely welcomed the Government’s announcement yesterday, for them, that was the end of a long process of trying to get government to listen, but it is, at the same time, a beginning, because there is an awful lot more to do. If the Minister has not had the chance to read it, a very well-known bereaved parent, Ian Russell, wrote a very sensible piece in today’s Guardian about safety by design and how completely and utterly fundamental that is if we are going to get this right.

My question to the Minister goes back to enforcement. I know these large companies; they were clients when I was a headhunter. I know how well funded they are. We put in a lot of their top lawyers. They are very smart and have very deep pockets. The only way that we will be able to enforce is by joining with other jurisdictions, most obviously the European Union, to create a large enough economic bloc of customers and users of these technology companies—despite whatever the slightly incontinent current President or any of his minions may say—and by working together in a united way to make the companies realise that there is no “get out of jail free” clause. They have to be held to account, and they will be, but we can only do that together.

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

The noble Lord—who has been a consistent advocate of ensuring that our children are safe online throughout the many months that I have been here, and he has played a very important role in doing so—is right that enforcement is absolutely key. He is also right to highlight that many other jurisdictions are looking at this and moving in this way. That will all be part of setting the new social norm and ensuring that not just this generation but the next generation grows up in a world in which social media operate very differently.