William Hague has called for tighter controls on children’s smartphone usage while urging ministers to stand up to tech giants.
The Oxford chancellor said the government was wrong to water down proposals by Labour MP Josh MacAlister to introduce stronger controls for teenagers on the internet, including raising the age of “internet adulthood” from 13 to 16, banning smartphones in schools, giving Ofcom more powers and changing the way phones are advertised to children.
“Study after study has shown that the more time young people spend on social media, the more they suffer anxiety and depression, are victims of harassment, endure poor sleep, low self-esteem and poor body image.
“Incredibly, a quarter of children as young as three and four years old are now in possession of a smartphone,” said Mr Hague.
Writing in The Times, the former Tory leader asked: “Why have they flinched on this? Why are they diluting to near insignificance a measure for which so many parents, and indeed young people themselves, have been calling?”
He argued that not only are ministers “slow to adjust to radical changes in technology and society”, but they are also afraid of upsetting US president Donald Trump, who is closely allied with Tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Issuing a stark warning to the government, Mr Hague said that “welcoming technology firms is different from letting them do anything they like”.
He urged ministers to “act faster and do much better than the craven weakness they displayed last week”.
Mr Hague’s warning comes after the new CEO of the NSPCC told The Independent about new horrors facing children online, including one account of how a scammer used AI to paste a teenage boy’s face onto a naked body before extorting him for cash.
In his first interview as CEO of the leading children’s charity, Chris Sherwood warned that the threat from generative AI could be worse for children than the impact of social media.
Meanwhile, Childline, the helpline run by the NSPCC, has reported seeing young people increasingly mentioning AI abuse in their counselling sessions.
Last year, the operator recorded 178 counselling sessions with mentions of AI-related phrases, new data reveals.
It comes just days after the government was accused of “betraying our children and capitulating to big tech” after Mr MacAlister’s bill was watered down to gain government support.
The version of the Bill introduced by the MP would instruct UK chief medical officers to publish advice for parents on the use of smartphones and social media by children.
It would also compel ministers to say within a year whether they plan to raise the age at which children can consent for their data to be shared without parental permission.
Conservative former education secretary Kit Malthouse described the Protection of Children (Digital Safety and Data Protection) Bill, as a “hollowed-out gesture” before its consideration was adjourned.
He told MPs he lamented “the gutting of what could have been a landmark Bill” and the government “has dithered, diluted and capitulated”.
He said: “We should all be furious about this. We should all be furious about the delay and the prevarication that is being injected into what could have been a huge step forward for parents and children.
“I cannot then understand why the government has pressured [Josh MacAlister] to produce what is, frankly, a cosmetic plug, betraying our children and capitulating to big tech.
“I’m afraid this Bill is a shell of what it could have been, and as a result, is yet another missed opportunity to improve the lives of our young people.”
A Department for Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson said: “We are committed to keeping young people safe online. From summer robust new laws in force through the Online Safety Act will protect children from harmful content and ensure they have age-appropriate experiences online.
“These protections will act as the foundation and our priority is getting them in place quickly and effectively.
"We also know there will be more to do and have already acted, including commissioning a study to assess current research on the impact of social media and smartphones, strengthening the evidence base on their impact on children's well-being.
“This will enable us to swiftly consider all options to inform our next steps in the safety of children online.”
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