Ellen Roome, the mother of a 14-year-old boy who she believes died after taking part in a TikTok challenge, has criticized Downing Street for moving too slowly toward a social media ban for under-16s, accusing the government of “kicking it down the road.”
Mother’s plea for action
Roome, whose son Jools Sweeney died at age 14, is among families set to meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday as a consultation on a possible social media ban closes this week. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, she said: “Come on, get a grip, let’s actually stand up, do something, make a decision. I don’t care if they take it away for adults and children until it’s safe, just take it away, fix it, and then we can give it back.”
Roome expressed hope that a ban would pressure technology companies to make platforms safer. “They spend millions and billions of pounds on making their system. They could spend some money on actually fixing their system and say this is now a safe product, and give it back. But until it’s safe, I absolutely wholeheartedly say: take it away.”
Government response
Anna Turley, the Labour party chair, said the government would “seize this moment” but defended the time taken for consultation. “We need to make sure that legislation and protection keeps pace with technology as it changes, and protects our children going forward. We’ve got legislation in place already to enable us to take these powers, so we’ll be acting as soon as possible because we need to make sure we protect children going forward and we get this right.”
Wes Streeting’s criticism of tech companies
Former health secretary Wes Streeting, who compared social media to tobacco in a Guardian interview, told Today that tech companies are to blame for making products addictive. “They know that it is harmful, and the business model is orientated towards getting kids while they’re young, addicting them with the design features that are designed for addiction, to grab your attention and keep you on their platform for as long as possible.”
Streeting pointed to “a growing body of evidence about the impact of this technology on childhood, whether that is sleep, concentration, learning, health, wellbeing, including mental health. The harms are evident, and the precautionary principle should apply here.”
He revealed he had consistently urged stronger action behind closed doors while in cabinet. “I’m liberated from the obligations of collective responsibility, which means I can now say publicly what I think. I made the same arguments inside government, I made them in cabinet, I made them in a number of cabinet committees and meetings where we were discussing issues surrounding education and wellbeing, but also violence against women and girls, where I think, again, we’ve got serious patterns of grooming and harmful behaviour.”
Evidence from Australia
Streeting cited Australia’s social media ban for under-16s as evidence that such measures work. “If it’s working for half of children, that’s better than it not working for any children at all, and I have to say that the lackadaisical approach to this particular type of harm, and the way in which technology is addling young people’s brains, impacting on their education and attainment, impacting on their health and wellbeing, it is pretty shocking.”
Possible measures under consideration
Ministers have run a 12-week consultation on whether to follow Australia’s example of setting an age limit on access. Other potential measures include:
- Age limits on certain app features, such as livestreaming, location sharing, and infinite scrolling
- Curbing personalized algorithms that create bespoke content feeds
- Mandatory screen curfews
The government is expected to announce its next steps after the consultation closes.
