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Social Media: Children

Asked by Alex MayerLabourDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled Answered 5 February 2026UIN 108061

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions he has had with his Australian counterpart on lessons learned from Australia’s introduction of a law to ban under-16s from social media platforms.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan

The UK and Australia signed an Online Safety and Security Memorandum of Understanding in February 2024 to share learnings and approaches to online safety.

The government is looking at what is happening in Australia. The Australian government plans to monitor the impact of their ban and we are engaging closely with them on this. Both the Secretary of State and the Minister for Online Safety hope to visit Australia soon.

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