• Centre for Young Lives think tank publishes report ahead of MPs’ vote, warning that the national debate on social media regulation has become a false choice between age limits and platform design reform, when both are needed urgently as part of a comprehensive package of protection.
• Centre for Young Lives calls for a precautionary public health approach which puts the burden of proof on tech giants to prove that their products are safe before they can be marketed to children, as with any other consumer product.
• Report warns against further delays, arguing that waiting for stronger evidence risks exposing yet another generation of children to avoidable harm.
• Report also urges the Government to introduce a Play and Recreation Levy on social media companies, to fund investment in alternative spaces for children and young people, both offline and online.

The Centre for Young Lives think tank, founded by former Children’s Commissioner for England Baroness Longfield, is today (Monday 9th March) urging MPs to take decisive action to protect children and reclaim childhood by backing measures to restrict access to harmful social media platforms to those aged 16 and over.

The call comes in a new report published by the Centre for Young Lives, “Reclaiming Childhood in the Digital Age: A framework for regulating social media platforms”.  

The report warns that, with 96% of 13–17-year-olds using social media and harms increasingly raised by parents, health professionals, and some young people themselves, the debate around raising the age to 16 has become stuck in a false binary choice between age limits or an updated Online Harms Act to reform platform design. Yet both reforms are needed as complementary measures within an overall package.

The report warns of a ‘burning platform’ where harm is being incurred in real time, evidence generation is slow, and the processes for shaping policy are not a level playing field, while social media continues to evolve faster than protections or research can keep pace. These conditions mean that waiting for stronger evidence simply bakes in delay and exposes yet another generation of children to avoidable harm.

The report urges the Government to adopt a public health model for social media which treats digital harms as systemic, population-level risks, not issues to be solved by individual behaviour change or parental vigilance. It argues that:

• With exposure so widespread, information campaigns, parental tools and digital literacy cannot be the centrepiece of protecting children.
• The social media environment itself must meet minimum safety standards, so families are not left to compensate for unsafe defaults.
• Choosing to opt-out of social media is not a realistic or fair solution for many children given social dynamics and peer pressure.

The report also calls for a precautionary approach to level the playing field between policymakers and social media companies. It warns that the strongest, most useful data on harms and user behaviour is held by social media platforms themselves, and not available to researchers or regulators. Policy measures can be delayed or watered down due to gaps in the evidence that is available, and platforms evolve faster than policy and research can be developed. Policymaking risks baking in and perpetuating harms, and what may seem like a neutral and evidence-based approach will end up being neither.  

The report calls for a shift in the burden of proof. Rather than researchers having to prove that social media is harmful, the onus must be on social media platforms to prove their products are safe – as is standard in other consumer safety regimes.

The report sets out a comprehensive framework for action, including:

• Mandatory minimum age requirements of 16 for harmful platforms, with the liability resting on platforms, not children or parents. This would be a “harm pausing” lever – a rapid, simple intervention to reduce exposure while deeper reforms are implemented.
• An acceptance that success should be judged by a net reduction in under16 access, not unrealistic expectations that it will solve every problem or that no child will find ways around it.  
• Controls on content, amplification, and harmful design mechanisms linked to compulsive use and reduced user control (for example intrusive notifications, autoplay, infinite scroll; measures to protect sleep and reduce nighttime use).
• Stronger safety by design and existing duty of care obligations for tech companies.
• Provide powers for independent safety audits of apps and enforceable transparency, with social media platforms forced to make their data available to researchers and regulators so that the true picture of harms and compliance can be established.

The report also calls on the Government to help reclaim childhood from addictive apps by creating an alternative offer for children, including:  

• Offline infrastructure: safe outdoor and play space; affordable sport, arts and enrichment; rebuilt youth services and supervised spaces; child friendly neighbourhood design (traffic reduction, safe routes); school policies that protect play and social development.
• Safer online alternatives that enable social connection without the same risk of harm as social media apps.
• A Play and Recreation Levy on major social media platforms to support investment in these alternatives.

Haroon Chowdry, CEO of the Centre for Young Lives, said:

“Waiting for the perfect evidence is simply baking in delay, and delay means more children exposed to harm. We need to treat this as a burning platform. Children need MPs and the Government to be brave, and to protect them from the grip of addictive apps and a business model that sees young people as a commodity to exploit for vast profit.

“For too long, the burden of proof has been put on researchers to show that social media is harmful, even though the strongest and most up-to-date evidence is held by the companies themselves. That is the wrong way round. Just as we expect with toys, cars or any other consumer product, platforms should have to demonstrate that their products are safe before children are exposed to them.

“MPs have a clear opportunity today to reclaim childhood and begin to break the stranglehold of big tech. Setting a minimum age of 16 for the most harmful platforms is a good start. It is a simple and necessary harm-pausing measure. It cannot fix everything – no single measure will – but it is a vital first step in a wider package to make the digital world safer for young people.”

ENDS

For further information and interview opportunities with the Centre’s CEO Haroon Chowdry, contact Jo Green (Director of Comms) – jo.green@centreforyounglives.org or 07715105415.

[.download]Download the report[.download]

Notes to editors

1. The report is available here.
2. The Centre for Young Lives was founded by Baroness Anne Longfield CBE in February 2024. Our team combines decades of experience in Westminster, Whitehall and beyond with a relentless commitment and drive to breaking down the barriers that hold back some children, and to ensuring that every child and young person can thrive. We use high quality research and evidence to advocate and campaign for innovate solutions and new models that improve the lives of children, young people and their families.