Keir Starmer summons social media bosses to No10 as Labour weighs new restrictions

Sir Keir Starmer will summon social media bosses to Downing Street as Labour weighs up new restrictions to protect children.

The Prime Minister said the talks to senior figures from TikTok, X, Meta, and other US social media companies will focus on "making sure social media companies step up and take responsibility".

The meeting will come midway through the Government's consultation on how to protect children online, which has considered an Australia-style ban for under-16s, limits on addictive features, and mobile phone bans in schools.

Sir Keir will be joined by Technology Secretary Liz Kendall as the Government questions leaders from Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, Elon Musk’s X, Snap, TikTok, and Google about their measures to protect children.

Ahead of talks, the Prime Minister said: "Social media shapes how children see themselves, their friendships and the world around them.

"When that comes with real risks, looking the other way is not an option."

He added: "The consequences of failing to act are stark. We owe it to parents, and to the next generation, to put children's safety first – because they won't forgive us if we don't."

Some social media companies have already implemented protective measures for younger users, such as disabling autoplay.

But they have pushed back against a blanket under-16 ban, with Google UK's boss warning it is not the "right approach".

Last month, Kate Alessi, managing director and vice-president of Google UK and Ireland, said: "We believe blanket bans take choices away from parents and push kids out of supervised spaces."

The meeting follows a California court case which found Meta and Google liable for intentionally building addictive platforms which harmed the mental health of a 20-year-old woman.

Both Meta and Google said they disagreed with the verdict and intended to appeal.

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Donald Trump, meeting with tech giants at the White House last September, said measures such as the Online Safety Bill were "sad" and a restriction on free speech.

Lord John Nash has said the US court cases were "game changers" for his cause of an under-16 social media ban.

He introduced an amendment to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill in the House of Lords which would immediately implement a social media ban, but it has twice been shot down in the Commons.

Education minister Olivia Bailey said: "Instead of the narrow amendment proposed in the House of Lords, our consultation allows us to address a much wider range of services and features."

Ellen Roome, who believes her 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died while attempting an online challenge, called the meeting a "stunt".

She said: "Social media companies have sat in rooms with parents like me – parents who have lost their children – and heard exactly what their platforms do. They have heard it in meetings and they have heard it in courtrooms. And still they do nothing. This meeting will be no different.

"It is just a stunt designed to distract from the fact that the Government told its own MPs to vote against raising the age limit."

"The Prime Minister says he will take all necessary steps to protect children – except the one step that is actually in his power: acting now to raise the age limit for harmful social media to 16. My message to the Prime Minister is very clear: we don’t need more meetings, we just need leadership."

The Growing Up In The Online World consultation concludes on May 26 and the Government has pledged to move quickly based on its findings.