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Kemi Badnock It has been said that if the Conservative Party comes to power, teenagers under the age of 16 will be banned from accessing social media platforms.
The Conservative leader told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg The show claims the platform profits from children’s “anxiety” and “distraction” and is “designed to be addictive.”
This comes after the teachers union Unlucky explain government Legislation should be introduced to enable big tech platforms to block children from accessing their platforms.
exist Australiaa social media ban on teenagers under 16 came into effect in December.
Tech companies such as TikTok and Snapchat will be required to use age checks that don’t rely on government digital IDs, the Conservatives said.
Mrs Badenock said: “What we want to see is common sense – protecting the freedoms of children and adults.
“We want parents to know that the government understands what they are going through. So we want to introduce an age limit.
“The internet is the Wild West, especially social media. We don’t think children should be there and we hope the industry can see where this is going so we can start working with them now to find appropriate solutions.”
Ms Badnock said as a mother of three she understood that age restrictions would not completely prevent children from accessing social media but would remove “critical groups” from the platforms.
She continued: “Even from my own use of social media, I can see how it keeps you on social media again and again.
“We are also seeing dramatic increases in depression, anxiety and mental health issues. Some of these are closely linked to social media use.
“We have people coming out of college straight onto welfare. We want to curb that.
“So all of this ties into our wider strategy of banning mobile phones in schools and getting people to work.
“All of these are the bricks that build our policy wall.”
Host Laura Kuenssberg said she played “quite a lot of Candy Crush” and Mrs Badnock said she had never played it, but she did use Instagram to check messages and “after half an hour you realize you were just looking at memes and stuff like that”.
Following the interview, Andy Burnham, the Labor mayor of Greater Manchester, wrote on
Former education secretary Lord Nash said: “I strongly welcome Kemi Badenock’s bold move to put children first. Raising the age limit on social media now has support from across the political spectrum, including Labor and Lib Dem MPs, the NEU and NASUWT.”
NASUWT general secretary Matt Wrack, who called for a ban, said: “Teachers deal with the consequences every day of a social media environment that was not originally designed and is not suitable for children.
“Social media companies have repeatedly shown that they will not act responsibly unless forced to do so.
“If we are serious about safeguarding children, protecting their mental health and tackling behavioral crises in schools, statutory bans for under-16s must be introduced urgently.”
Ofsted, the head of the schools watchdog, raised concerns late last year that social media was “diminishing” children’s attention spans and promoting disrespectful behaviour.
NASUWT surveyed 5,800 teachers in 2025 and found that around four in five (81%) students reported an increase in the number of students exhibiting violent and abusive behaviour.
Nearly three-fifths (59%) of respondents to the same survey said they believed social media was one of the driving factors behind worsening behavior.
In a separate poll of 300 members, NASUWT found 89% said they supported a statutory social media ban for under-16s.
A government spokesman said: “We support headteachers taking the necessary steps to prevent disruption to their schools – under our guidance the vast majority of schools have restricted the use of mobile phones during school hours so they do not disrupt learning.”
“With the Online Safety Bill, we are taking some of the boldest steps anywhere in the world to ensure children have age-appropriate online experiences and require social media companies to protect under-18s from harmful content.
“We are striking the right balance: protecting children from harm while ensuring they can safely benefit from the digital world.”
Anna Edmundson, director of policy and public affairs at the NSPCC, said: “Protecting young people from the harm that can happen on social media is vital, but we believe a blanket ban for under-16s would be a blunt approach to solving a complex problem.
“This will undermine young people’s rights to connect with friends and family, learn about the world and receive support. It also risks driving them into unregulated online spaces, exposing them to greater threats.
“We cannot penalize young people for technology companies’ failure to create safe online experiences. To properly address this issue, services must take responsibility for the content posted on their platforms and ensure young people and adults can enjoy social media safely.”