UK prime minister says move will bring ‘real change for our children’ amid growing concerns over harmful online content

Access to social media will be banned in the UK for users under 16, Keir Starmer has announced, in what he described as “real change for our children and our future”.

“Social media is making children unhappy, it’s making it easier for bullies to harass and abuse them, and it could even be harming their mental health,” he said, setting out plans briefed over the weekend, which will go further than a pioneering ban in Australia.