The academic in charge of a huge study into the impact of Australia’s under-16s social media ban has urged the UK government to wait for evidence before repeating the move.
Calls to prevent British kids from accessing social media have ramped up in the past week, with the House of Lords planning to vote on the measure today.
More than 60 Labour MPs signed an open letter to Sir Keir Starmer at the weekend calling on him to follow the example of Australia, shortly after the Conservatives also said they backed the policy.
And yesterday, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall announced a ‘swift, three-month consultation’ into the plan.
But Professor Kathy Modecki, Head of the Developmental Science of Mental Health team at the Kids Research Institute Australia, told Metro rushing into action would be ‘short-sighted’.
Her study, conducted alongside the University of Chicago, is asking more than 2,300 parents how the ban introduced last month is impacting their families.
Want to understand more about how politics affects your life?
Metro's senior politics reporter Craig Munro breaks down all the chaos into easy to follow insight, walking you through what the latest policies mean to you. Sent every Wednesday. Sign up here.
The full data, which should show clearly the advantages and disadvantages of the measures, will only be published in the second half of this year.
Professor Modecki said: ‘It would be premature for other areas or countries to follow suit without yet accessing data regarding this national experiment.’
Early anecdotal signs from the research suggest teenagers ‘have a lot to say about having circumvented the ban’, she said, by using their parents’ IDs, creating fake accounts or moving to lesser-known platforms.
According to reports from Australia, young people have found it relatively easy to dodge or trick age verification checks – including by scrunching up their faces, so they appear to have wrinkles.
Others are believed to have fooled tools that rely on browsing history by searching for contraceptives, flights and even care homes on Google.
In her statement to MPs on Tuesday, Liz Kendall said the government’s rapid consultation would ‘look closely at the experience in Australia’ – though the ban has only been in place since December 10.
The Tech Secretary acknowledged concerns that a ban could stop children enjoying what she called ‘the positives of social media’.
Those included ‘connecting with like-minded people’, ‘finding those who love in the same way, and love the same things’, and ‘getting peer support and trusted advice’.
Professor Modecki, who also teaches psychological science at the University of Western Australia in Perth, said these should be taken seriously.
She said: ‘In short, yes there are teething issues, which we could expect, but it would be short-sighted to make policy changes without the science that will ultimately become available with this experiment.
‘This is particularly the case given that there are concerns not only of no effects, but potential negative effects, at least for some families, tied to reduced access to positive support, mental health information, and identity-affirming groups.’
Alongside the potential social media ban, Kendall said the consultation will investigate a range of options for limiting young people’s online access.
It could result in overnight curfews, enforced breaks to stop doomscrolling or ‘action to address concerns about the use of VPNs to get around important protections’.
Meanwhile, former Tory schools minister Lord Nash is aiming to introduce the age limit earlier by tabling an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
He has argued the government’s consultation represents further delays, claiming the evidence in favour of the move is ‘overwhelming’.
Ahead of today’s debate, he told peers: ‘Without swift action to raise the age limit for social media to 16, we are at risk of a societal catastrophe.
‘That is why I am urging all fellow peers to vote for my amendment, which has the backing of peers from every major party, to end the disastrous harm being done to our young people by social media and to give them their childhood back.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
