The Electronic Frontier Foundation has said that age-verification requirements harm privacy by requiring more collection of personal information from users of all ages. Banning social media also prevents kids from accessing useful content, the group said.

“Beyond being spaces where people can share funny videos and engage with enjoyable content, social media enables young people to engage with the world in a way that transcends their in-person realm, as well as find information they may not feel safe to access offline, such as about family abuse or their sexuality,” the EFF said in March as the UK discussions were progressing. “In severing this connection to people and information by banning social media, politicians are forcing millions of young people into a dark and censored world.”

Liberal Democrats prefer age-rating system

MP Victoria Collins of the Liberal Democrats party said the proposal is “woefully inadequate.” The UK should instead force tech companies to address addictive algorithms and harmful content, she said.

“That’s why the Liberal Democrats put forward a social media age-rating system that, instead of a blanket ban, puts the onus on the social media giants to clean up their act and have safety by design for all of us,” she said.

MP Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform UK party, said “the social media ban is well-intentioned” but is “unlikely to work given the mass adoption of VPNs. It will also mean the introduction of Digital ID via the back door. The real answer here is handsets for children with limited features.”

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch took credit for Starmer’s Labour Party deciding on an under-16 ban. “It is fantastic news that the government has finally woken up to the dangers of social media for young people… Huge credit goes to MP Laura Trott and my Shadow Cabinet for relentlessly fighting for this. Conservatives welcome this latest Labour U-turn, and will continue to work for the best implementation of the policy,” Badenoch said.