11 h. ago Schoolgirl's tragic note before taking own life is warning on social media ban

Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly died in 2017 due to online harms, has teamed up with more than 40 charities, experts and bereaved parents to oppose a social media ban for teens

Events

42 h. ago Albanese says the social media ban is working, but it is too early to say if it has been successful

As the UK government faces pressure to follow suit, evidence on whether the ban is working is still a while away.More than 4.7m accounts for teens under 16 have been been taken offline by Australia’s social media ban, but that doesn’t mean it’s been successful.As the UK government faces pressure to follow suit, let’s take a closer look at the facts and figures. Continue reading...

Politics

61 h. ago More than 100,000 people urge MPs to ban social media for under

Letters sent using campaign group’s template as Keir Starmer indicates Australia-style move being consideredMPs’ inboxes have been flooded with letters calling for an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s, as the prime minister indicated such a move was being considered.More than 100,000 people have contacted their local MP since the grassroots organisation Smartphone Free Childhood launched an email campaign on Tuesday evening with a template calling for “reasonable, age-appropriate boundaries”. Continue reading...

Politics

62 h. ago Elon Musk backs down in Grok sex images war as Starmer threatens to ban X

The richest man in the world made the u-turn after Prime Minister Keir Starmer threatened to ban social media platform X altogether in the UK

Events

65 h. ago More than 4.7m social media accounts blocked after Australia’s under

Accounts removed or restricted on Twitch, Kick, YouTube, Threads, Facebook, Instagram, Snap, X, TikTok and Reddit in world-leading banGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMore than 4.7m social media accounts held by Australians who platforms have judged to be under 16 years of age were deactivated, removed or restricted in the first days after the ban came into effect in December, the prime minister has said.After the social media ban came into effect on 10 December, the eSafety commissioner sent questions to each of the platforms covered by the ban asking how many accounts had been removed in order to comply with the law. Continue reading...

Politics

66 h. ago Can 'embarrassing' Starmer stick to ANY policies? PM 'set for more U

Keir Starmer has cemented his reputation for flip-flopping with two more major concessions in 2026, just a fortnight into the New Year.

Events

3 d. ago How teenagers outsmarted Australia's social media ban with tricks as simple as screwing up their faces to make it look like they've got wrinkles

Anyone visiting the Sortino family home in Melbourne, Australia, last month could have cut the tension with a knife.

Politics

3 d. ago Social media time does not increase teenagers’ mental health problems – study

UK study comes as ministers consider Australia’s ban on social media use for under-16sScreen time spent gaming or on social media does not cause mental health problems in teenagers, according to a large-scale study.With ministers in the UK considering whether to follow Australia’s example by banning social media use for under-16s, the findings challenge concerns that long periods spent gaming or scrolling TikTok or Instagram s driving an increase in teenagers’ depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Musk v Starmer: will UK ban X over Grok nudification? | The Latest

The UK government is threatening Elon Musk’s X with a ban. The social media platform is under pressure from ministers over the use of the Grok AI tool to manipulate images of women and children to remove their clothes. Ofcom, the UK’s media regulator, has launched an investigation into X – and the government says it will support a ban if Ofcom decides to press ahead. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago UK should ban children from social media because they cannot cope with toxic hate speech, terror watchdog warns

Jonathan Hall, the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism, said in a speech at the Policy Exchange think that ‘the question of how to regulate the online space is the most urgent question of our day’

Events

4 d. ago Keir Starmer tells MPs he is open to social media ban for young people

PM says he is alarmed at reports about children’s screen time and has shifted position on Australian-style policyUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has told MPs he is open to the idea of an Australian-style ban on social media for young people after becoming concerned about the amount of time children and teenagers are spending on their phones.The prime minister told Labour MPs on Monday evening he had become alarmed at reports about five-year-olds spending hours in front of screens each day, as well as increasingly worried about the damage social media is doing to under-16s. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Can X be banned under UK law and what are the other options?

UK media regulator is investigating whether X has breached the Online Safety Act – what could happen next?The UK government is threatening Elon Musk’s X with the nuclear option under the country’s online safety laws: a ban. The social media platform is under pressure from ministers after it allowed the Grok AI tool, which is integrated within the app, to generate indecent images of unsuspecting women and children.The government has said it will support the media regulator Ofcom, which has launched an investigation into X, if it decides to push ahead with a ban. But is such a move likely? Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Social media is corrupting young minds – but a ban is not the answer | Zoe Williams

Kicking under-16s off the social platforms is tempting, but it ignores the root of the problem: the older generations who made them so toxic in the first placeKemi Badenoch is evolving into one of those politicians who, whatever she says, it’s not just likely to be wrong, it’s likely to be the opposite of what’s right. She says Greenland is not a big deal (a “second-order issue” is how she described it to the BBC) – it is a big deal. She says net zero is too expensive – the opposite is true: net-anything-but-zero is a cost we can’t afford.But her promise to ban under-16s from using social media, echoing Australia’s recent move, is hard to write off completely; people across the spectrum, including Andy Burnham, agree with it. Nobody who has ever met a teenager, or read the news, will be completely at ease with the role of social media in young lives. There are horrific effects, which have been well documented and inadequately addressed ever since the death of 14-year-old Molly Russe...

Politics

5 d. ago John Swinney stops short of endorsing social media ban for Scots under

The First Minister accepted there were “many strengths” to social media but also “many risks and threats”.

Politics

5 d. ago UK’s Ofcom investigates X over Grok’s sexualised AI images of women and children

Media regulator threatens chatbot with ban or multimillion-pound fine

Events

6 d. ago Meta blocked nearly 550,000 accounts in first days of Australia’s under

Tech giant says ongoing compliance will be a ‘multi-layered process’ as UK Labour faces pressure to bring in similar ban for teenagersFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMeta has deactivated more than half a million accounts for teenagers across Facebook, Instagram and Threads as a result of Australia’s under-16s social media ban, the company has announced.Just over one month since the ban came into effect, Meta announced on Monday that between 4 December, when the company began deactivating accounts, and 11 December, 544,052 accounts Meta believed to be held by users under 16 were deactivated. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Mandelson praises Trump’s ‘graciousness’ and declines to apologise for friendship with Jeffrey Epstein – UK politics live

In first TV interview since he was sacked as UK ambassador to US, Mandelson says association with Epstein was ‘terrible mistake’ but adds: ‘I was not culpable’Laura Kuenssberg asks Peter Mandelson if he liked Donald Trump when he was the UK ambassador.Mandelson says he did like Trump, listing of numerous reasons why, but said he did not like all of his “language”.I like him, yes, I liked his humour, his graciousness I liked his directness. You knew exactly what he was thinking and where you stood and what he wanted. And how he was proposing to engage, with you. Did I like in all his language? No, I didn’t, did I? Did he make me gasp? What’s going to happen is there’s going to be, another discussion, a lot of consultation and a lot of negotiation.At the end of the day, we are all going to have to wake up to the reality that the Arctic needs securing against China and Russia. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Government faces call from teachers to ban social media for under

'Teachers are dealing every day with the fallout of a social media landscape not originally designed and not suitable for children'

Politics

7 d. ago Musk hits out at ‘fascist’ UK as row over X and its Grok AI escalates

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said she would back regulator Ofcom if it sought to ban the social media platform and its AI.

Events

7 d. ago Elon Musk says UK wants to suppress free speech as X faces possible ban

Ministers warn platform could be blocked after Grok AI used to create sexual images without consentElon Musk has accused the UK government of wanting to suppress free speech after ministers threatened fines and a possible ban for his social media site X after its AI tool, Grok, was used to make sexual images of women and children without their consent.The billionaire claimed Grok was the most downloaded app on the UK App Store on Friday night after ministers threatened to take action unless the function to create sexually harassing images was removed. Continue reading...

Politics