Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many respondents to their consultation paper Growing up in the online world, published on 2 March, said that they either (1) strongly agree, or (2) somewhat agree, that “social media services should have a minimum age of access of at least 16 and should not be accessible to any children under that age”; and how many otherwise expressed support for restricting access to social media services for children under 16.

We have always been clear that we will build on the protections for children in the Online Safety Act. This is why we published a consultation and began a national conversation which sought views and evidence from across the UK on measures that could further protect children online and enhance their wellbeing.

The government published a progress report on the consultation on 15 June. In response to the full-length consultation, 82% of respondents agreed with proposals to ban under 16s from social media. In response to the parents' consultation, 90% of parents also agreed with a ban. Support was lower among children who responded to the consultation, but two in three (66%) of children and young people supported a minimum age of 16 for at least some social media sites, with 19% supporting it for all social media sites.