Plans to make phones safer for children watered down

A bill which aimed to protect children from addictive algorithms has been watered down after failing to secure UK Government backing.

The safer phones bill, a private member’s bill put forward by Labour MP Josh MacAlister, would have banned the use of algorithms on young teenagers' accounts by raising the digital age of consent from 13 to 16.

The bill would have also required the government to review phone sales to teenagers and for ministers to review whether additional technological safeguards on phones sold to those under 16 were needed.

The legislation would have also made phone bans schools a legal requirement by putting the existing guidance on a statutory footing.

However, all these measures have been ditched after failing to secure ministerial backing.

Whitehaven and Workington MP MacAlister introduced the legislation last October, describing it as a “seatbelt” bill to combat the impact of “doomscrolling” and “excessive” phone use on children.

The original bill had secured backing from numerous politicians, including health secretary Wes Streeting, former Conservative education secretary Kit Malthouse and the chair of the education select committee, Labour MP Helen Hayes, but was watered down to secure government support during a debate earlier today.

During the debate Malthouse said the watering down was a “gutting of what could have been a landmark bill", and that "this government, like the last, has dithered, diluted and capitulated" on the issue.

The new version of the bill gives the government up to a year to say whether it will raise the digital age of consent from 13 to 16.

It also calls for chief medical officers published guidance on the use of smartphones and social media by children within 12 months and for further research on the impact of social media on children.

Reacting to the changes, MacAlister said he had “been working really closely with the government” to put forward “practical measures”, and was “optimistic” that ministers would support it.