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UK ministers lobby Trump to avert backlash against social media ban
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Ministers have embarked on a concerted lobbying operation to prevent a backlash from the Trump administration to the under-16s social media ban announced by Keir Starmer.
Key facts
- Ministers are working on further limits to be unveiled next month, including late-night social media curfews for 16- and 17-year-olds
- Certain services have been specifically excluded, including YouTube Kids, Lego Play and Google Classroom
- Esther Ghey, the mother of the murdered teenager Brianna Ghey, said she was happy about the ban and it could “save so many children’s lives
- By Monday evening, the US president had not commented on the plans
Summary
Officials said they had spent weeks trying to reassure senior Trump officials and the US president himself that the restrictions were not specifically aimed at US technology companies. The ban on platforms including X, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok makes the UK one of the first countries in the world to put sweeping limits on social media for children, after Australia did the same earlier this year. But British officials are aware of the risk of retaliation from Trump, whom Starmer will meet at the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains this week and who has previously threatened the UK with “a big tariff” if the government does not drop its digital services tax.