Calls to ban under-16s from social media must focus on solutions that genuinely reduce harm while remaining practical and workable, the chief executive of the Society of Editors (SoE) has said following a London Press Club and Stationers’ Company debate on young people and online safety.
Dawn Alford, chief executive of the SoE, joined a panel including Christian May, editor-in-chief of City AM, Chloe Hubbard, UK editor of The Independent and incoming editor-in-chief of The Mirror, Joseph Sparks, Principal of Leigh Stationers’ Academy, and trainee journalist Niva Yadav to discuss whether social media should be restricted for younger users.
Speaking during the discussion, Alford said the strength of feeling around online harms was entirely understandable, particularly among parents and educators, but warned that policy responses must reflect how digital communication now forms part of everyday life for young people.
She said social media could bring clear benefits, including creativity, connection and access to communities, while also exposing teenagers to risks that require stronger safeguards and accountability from technology companies.
Alford said the debate should not be framed simply as being for or against social media, nor reduced to calls for an outright ban, arguing instead that the focus must be on measures that genuinely improve safety in practice. She welcomed the Government’s recently announced consultation as an important opportunity to examine what works but said that it must look beyond traditional platforms and consider the wider digital environment now shaping young people’s experiences online, including the rapid growth of artificial intelligence tools and conversational chatbots increasingly used by children and teenagers.
She said: “We must reduce harm in ways that actually work. Parents are effectively being asked to regulate trillion-dollar digital environments from the kitchen table, and that is simply not a level playing field. Social media can be positive and valuable for young people, but that does not remove the responsibility on platforms to make those environments safer.
“An outright ban would see young people leaving the platforms we understand and instead finding others that are not regulated. We risk trading visible harm for hidden harm in spaces that are much harder to see and harder to protect.
“The focus has to be on safer design and real accountability from the tech giants. I welcome the Government’s consultation, but it also needs to recognise how quickly technology is changing, including the growing role of AI tools such as ChatGPT, which young people are already using for advice, interaction and information, and which must now be considered as part of the online safety conversation.”
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