{"id":322779,"date":"2026-01-22T11:36:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T03:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=322779"},"modified":"2026-01-22T11:36:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T03:36:28","slug":"uk-upper-house-approves-social-media-ban-for-under-16s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=322779","title":{"rendered":"UK upper house approves social media ban for under-16s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.bssnews.net\/assets\/news_photos\/2026\/01\/22\/image-353583-1769049813.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>LONDON, Jan 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Britain&#8217;s upper house of parliament voted Wednesday in favour of banning under-16s from using social media, raising pressure on the government to match a similar ban passed in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday he was not ruling out any options and pledged action to protect children, but his government wants to wait for the results of a consultation due this summer before legislating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Calls have risen across the opposition and within the governing Labour party for the UK to follow Australia, where under-16s have been barred from social media applications since Dec 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The amendment from opposition Conservative lawmaker John Nash passed with 261 votes to 150 in the House of Lords, co-sponsored by a Labour and a Liberal Democrat peer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Tonight, peers put our children&#8217;s future first,&#8221; Nash said. &#8220;This vote begins the process of stopping the catastrophic harm that social media is inflicting on a generation.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before the vote, Downing Street said the government would not accept the amendment, which now goes to the Labour-controlled lower House of Commons. More than 60 Labour MPs have urged Starmer to back a ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Public figures including actor Hugh Grant urged the government to back the proposal, saying parents alone cannot counter social media harms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some child-protection groups warn a ban would create a false sense of security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A YouGov poll in December found 74 percent of Britons supported a ban. The Online Safety Act requires secure age verification for harmful content. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LONDON, Jan 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Britain&#8217;s upper house of parliament voted Wednesday in favour of banning under-16s from using social media, raising pressure on the government to match a similar ban passed in Australia. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday he was not ruling out any options and pledged action to protect children, but his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[209],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322779"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=322779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322783,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322779\/revisions\/322783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=322779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=322779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=322779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}