# Should the Government ban social media for young people?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-briefing-room-1106985/should-the-government-ban-social-media-for-young-people
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-briefing-room-1106985/should-the-government-ban-social-media-for-young-people.md
Podcast: [The Briefing Room](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-briefing-room-1106985)
Published: 2026-02-19T13:55:00+00:00
Episode link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002rghw
Audio file: http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0n21clb.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-briefing-room-1106985/episodes/should-the-government-ban-social-media-for-young-people
Duration seconds: 1721

## Resource

Pressure is building in the UK for a ban on social media use for young people as countries across the world watch Australia, which introduced its own ban for under 16s last December. Meanwhile, the government here is launching a public consultation on children’s use of social media which will look at a range of options, including a ban. It also said this week that it wants to create new legal powers so it can take action quickly. David Aaronovitch asks what the evidence so far tells us about social media and harm to young people and what else could be done about it short of an outright ban. Guests: Katy Watson, Sydney Correspondent Luke Tryl, Director More in Common Professor Amy Orben, Programme Leader at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge Professor Sonia Livingstone, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics Pete Etchells, Professor of Psychology and Science Communication, Bath Spa University Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Caroline Bayley and Kirsteen Knight Production Co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound engineer: James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon

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## Transcript

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