A Liberal Future for Social Media for Under 18s

Chair: Alison Jenner; Aide: Duncan Brack; Hall Aide: Charley Hasted

Motion as passed by conference

Submitted by: Young Liberals
Mover: Victoria Collins MP (Spokesperson for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Summation: Mackenzie Gregory

Conference notes that:

1. On 21 January 2026, the House of Lords voted in favour of an amendment to the Children, Schools and Wellbeing Bill proposing a blanket statutory ban on social media access for under 16s.
2. This vote represents a significant and immediate shift in the policy landscape, creating urgency for the Party to clarify its position.
3. The amendment relies on age-based prohibition without equivalent strengthening of platform accountability, safety-by-design, or enforceable duties on technology companies.
4. The Government announced, on 19th January, a consultation on children’s social media use, to run from 2nd March to 26th May, which invites responses for what minimum age there should be for social media use.
5. Evidence from international research programmes, including UNICEF, the OECD and EU Kids Online, finds no robust causal evidence that blanket bans reduce harm.
6. Research instead identifies risks of displacement to less regulated spaces, concealment of use, and reduced access to support, education and community.
7. Online harms are real and include compulsive use driven by addictive design, algorithmic reinforcement, and commercial incentives that reward prolonged engagement.

Conference believes that:

1. A liberal approach to child online safety must balance protection with autonomy, recognising that resilience is built through supported participation, not exclusion.
2. Children and young people are developing digital citizens whose rights to information, communication and participation apply online as well as offline.
3. Blanket prohibitions risk disproportionate harm to vulnerable groups, including disabled young people, LGBTQ+ young people, and those in rural or isolated communities who rely on digital access for services, friendships and opportunities unavailable locally.
4. The greatest risks arise not from access itself but from poorly regulated platform design, particularly features intended to maximise time spent online.
5. Effective policy must address those structural drivers of harm rather than substitute simple restrictions for meaningful regulation.
6. Children’s access should develop through a graduated framework reflecting age, maturity and digital literacy, not a single rigid threshold.
7. Governments must build the technical and regulatory capacity required to oversee complex digital systems effectively.

Conference calls for:

1. The introduction of a statutory age rating and classification framework for online platforms, as proposed by Victoria Collins MP, in which services are rated according to the risks posed by their content, design and features, with regulatory requirements scaled accordingly.
2. Age ratings to operate as the gateway to proportionate safeguards, requiring platforms used by under 18s to implement a default safer mode aligned to their rating rather than excluding young people entirely.
3. Safer modes to embed high privacy settings, limits on behavioural advertising, reduced algorithmic amplification, and constraints on addictive engagement features, alongside clear and accessible user controls.
4. Statutory, auditable standards governing these protections, backed by enforceable duties and rapid response requirements where harms occur.

Applicability: England.

Mover: 5 minutes;  all other speakers: 3 minutes. For eligibility and procedure for speaking in this debate, see pages 10-11 of the agenda. You can submit a speaker's card online here or in person.