Guernsey to consider social media ban for under-16s

Guernsey politicians are responding after the UK announced an under-16 social media ban.

From spring 2027, children under 16 in the UK will be banned from using social media platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram.

The move follows a similar ban introduced in Australia last year, and is designed to protect young people from harmful and addictive online content.

It is not yet clear whether Guernsey will introduce the same rules.

Head of Home Affairs, Marc Leadbeater, says discussions are already taking place with UK counterparts and that politicians will consider "whether duplicating the policy in Guernsey would fit the island's needs."

"Without wanting to pre-empt the outcome of those discussions, my view is that any measures which better protect young people online deserve serious consideration.

"While social media can have many benefits, some platforms include features such as disappearing messages, location sharing and private communications which can be exploited by predators and others seeking to groom, coerce or abuse vulnerable children.

"I made it clear during the Presidential elections last year that I had concerns about online environments that facilitate grooming, bullying, intimate image sharing and the exploitation of vulnerable children.

"If there are practical and proportionate steps we can take to better protect young people in our community, then we should be prepared to take them."

Deputy Sally Rochester says the UK's ban is 'imperfect' but a step in the right direction.

"The Education Committee and HSC Committee commissioned a survey to talk to parents, children and teachers about smartphones in schools, and we're waiting for the results of that to come out, and I think we should use the results of that to make some policy decisions.

"The UK government consulted before they acted, and I think we must consult before we act.

"It's very hard to enforce, you know, young people will use VPNs, which means that they can bypass the technology blocks, and there are some elements of self-verification of age, which is easy to get around as well.

"But I don't think those imperfections necessarily should stop the UK government from putting something in place to try and mitigate some of the harm."

Deputy Rochester says the island can make its own rules:

"We don't need to just follow in the wake of the UK and use their legislative tools or Ofcom's powers, you know, we can choose to do other things.

"For example, you know, we could choose to say that we're only going to allow brick phones into schools.

"We could do things locally that we don't need to legislate for, and we can do it quite quickly."

Guernsey Mum Emma Lawlor - from Smartphone Free Childhood Guernsey - would like to see parents and government unite in protecting youngsters:

"We're really, really pleased to see what Keir Starmer's come out with today and hopefully, you know, Guernsey will take note and put some things in place here as well.

"Very clear bans on smartphones in schools and having a brick phone policy island-wide.

"We just really need like a community joint-up approach to this

"So again, people aren't on their own kind of fighting this, but we are getting that message out there.

"This is something that children should not be accessing, and it's impacting every area of their lives.

"It's also important to see this is not taking something away from children, which is often kind of how it's perceived, but what we're doing is giving them their childhood back.

"It needs to be seen as a ban on the social media platforms and big tech companies from having constant access to our children 24-7."