The Government has launched a major national consultation on how we keep children safe online, and I want to encourage parents, young people, educators and carers across Bedford and Kempston to take part.
The three-month consultation will examine some of the biggest questions facing families today, including whether there should be a minimum age for social media, whether addictive platform features should be restricted, and how we protect children from harmful content across social media, gaming platforms and AI chatbots.
It aims to ensure children can grow up safely in a digital world that has changed dramatically in a few years.
Parents are grappling with difficult questions: how much screen time is too much, when children should be given smartphones, what they are seeing online, and the impact on their sleep, concentration and mental health. Many feel they are fighting a losing battle against platforms designed to keep young people scrolling.
The consultation is part of a wider package of action through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which strengthens protections for young people and supports healthier childhoods.
Alongside reforms in schools and wider safeguarding measures, the Bill allows the Government to act quickly on the outcome of the consultation, including further restrictions on harmful online features.
Social media ban?
One proposal being discussed nationally is whether there should be a minimum age for social media use.
In recent months, I supported a cross-party letter to the Prime Minister calling for consideration of an Australian-style ban on social media for under-16s.
Many parents who have contacted me strongly support this idea, and I completely understand why.
For families who have tragically lost children after exposure to harmful online content, the demand for decisive action is powerful. Their campaigning has brought this issue to the forefront and forced all of us to confront the scale of the challenge.
But while the call to “just do it now” is a feeling I share, I understand we must ensure solutions last and really do make children safer.
Some organisations, including the NSPCC, warn that an outright ban could push young people into less regulated corners of the internet, where protections are weaker, and risks may be greater.
The Government will run real-world pilots with families and teenagers to examine how potential future social media restrictions could work in real life. The consultation will explore measures from a minimum age for social media to disabling addictive design features like infinite scrolling and autoplay.
It will consider overnight curfews, strengthened age verification, and restrictions on AI chatbots.
We must also ensure existing rules are properly enforced. Recent reports show some adult websites have ignored Ofcom penalties. When companies operate internationally and place profit ahead of child protection, regulators must have the tools to hold them accountable.
The Online Safety Act was an important first step, but technology is evolving rapidly, and laws must keep pace. One thing parents, campaigners and charities agree on is that the status quo is not enough. Technology should enrich young lives, not harm them.
That is why I strongly encourage parents, carers, educators and young people in Bedford and Kempston to take part in the consultation. By sharing your experiences and views, you can help shape legislation that creates a safer digital world for us all.
The consultation can be found here.
The survey for parents and carers of young people aged 21 and under is here.
The survey for children and young people (aged 10 to 21) is here, and the survey for civil society, industry and members of the public can be found here.
This is a monthly guest column provided by
Mohammad Yasin, Labour MP for Bedford & Kempston.
It is published unedited and does not
reflect the views of the Bedford Independent.
