Earlier this week, Julia responded to the Government's announcement about its intentions to ban social media for those under the age of 16.
Commenting on social media she said:
For too long, we’ve implicitly decided that childhood and parenting must simply adapt to the darker manifestations of the internet as a reality of modern life. Giving parents the support that they need is not the same as the state stripping them of their ultimate responsibilities. But when harm from social media to our children is real and growing, it is clear that the current approach is not enough. This is why Conservatives have supported getting under-16s off harmful social media and why we are glad the government now agrees. But the PM’s u-turn, timed for the Makerfield by-election, has left officials’ heads spinning trying to retrofit policy to his Damascene conversion…
This means there are many unanswered questions about how the government will be translating its social media ban into real life, and wider inconsistencies of approach to young people. Labour is now proposing to give 16 year-olds the vote while stopping a seventeen year-old from a nighttime doom scroll on Instagram. There is going to be a lot to scrutinise in the months ahead…
