The government is considering new measures, including a potential “app cap” or “digital curfew” for children, to combat what a minister has described as the “deliberately addictive” nature of social media algorithms.
Sir Chris Bryant, the minister of state for data protection and telecoms, confirmed the government is looking at a further package of regulations to protect young people online. The move would go beyond the measures set to come into force next month under the Online Safety Act.
“It’s pretty clear now that some of the apps have deliberately addictive elements drawn into them, into their algorithms”, Sir Chris told LBC Radio on Monday morning. “Young people are brought in, they get addicted and they can’t hang up, and that’s the kind of thing that we really need to address.”
The comments came in response to a question about proposals mooted by Peter Kyle, the science, innovation and technology secretary, for a so-called “app cap” and “digital curfew”.
The Mirror newspaper reported over the weekend that Kyle is looking at restrictions, such as two-hour curfews for social media apps, or blocks on children accessing content after 10 pm or during school hours.
Kyle told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday programme that he is “looking at things that prevent healthy activity… I’m looking at some of the addictive nature of some of the apps and smartphones.”
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Sir Chris confirmed the government’s intent to act. “We want to address that in a way that is proportionate and effective”, he stated, highlighting concerns over the negative impact of social media, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bryant commented: “Personally, I’ve taken Twitter [now known as X] off my phone because I’m not sure that it was doing me any favours — and maybe lots of other people have made similar decisions, but one of the things that we’re conscious of is that, especially for young people, and especially, I would suggest, after the period of Covid, social media sometimes has played a very negative role in their lives”.
He added: “We want to address that in a way that is proportionate and effective.”
Sir Chris noted that changes are already imminent. New child safety codes of practice, which set out practical measures for online services to meet their legal responsibility to protect children online under the Online Safety Act, are set to come into force in July.
He said these will introduce “very strict rules” for how tech companies must operate in relation to young people, including “very strong digital age verification services.”
He added: “I think people will be surprised, pleasantly surprised, by the change that that will bring in July.”
The minister went on to signal that the government believes more intervention is needed to tackle the nature of “deliberately addictive” apps.
He told LBC Radio: “But we need to look more as well on the basis of the research that I and others have done for our department, that it’s pretty clear now that some of the apps have deliberately addictive elements drawn into them, into their algorithms, which means that young people are brought in, they get addicted and they can’t hang up.
“And that’s the kind of thing that we really need to address. Now we’re not ready yet, when we’ve got a full package of measures we will come forward with them as soon as we possibly can.”
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
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