Australian style social media ban for under-16s is “on the table” unless tech giants take action to protect children, the Technology Secretary has warned.

On Wednesday, Peter Kyle will tell Ofcom to be more “assertive” in its support. social media companies and reassure the regulator that it has its support to use its full powers over fines and imprisonment.

It will also activate special powers under the Online Safety Act for the first time which will enable it to set out five Ofcom strategic priorities, the most important of which is ensuring security is built into platforms to prevent harms such as suicide, self-harm and violence. .

This will mean strict enforcement of the over-13 age limit from July next year, with millions of underage children being stripped of their social media accounts if necessary and parents have the necessary tools to ensure the safety of their children.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Mr Kyle said: “I’m pretty sure the tech companies need to come together and sort this out. Otherwise, we may have to move to another level of regulation.

“Some of these companies spend more on R&D than the UK government does in total. So don’t tell me you can’t pull together some resources and have a conversation about how things like age verification can be made more robust, and that security can’t be built in.

Mr Kyle said he was reluctant to introduce new legislation until he saw how the Online Safety Act worked, but he made clear he was willing to go further if tech companies failed to keep children safe.

He revealed he was already talking to lawmakers in Australia, where the government is considering introducing “unprecedented” laws to ban children under 16 from accessing social media. Asked if the UK could raise its age threshold to 16, he said: “When it comes to keeping young people safe, everything is on the table.

“Whenever this kind of thing happens, anywhere in the world, I’m right on the phone, listening and learning, asking for information, for evidence that they were using or had access to.”

Lack of “rigorous” evidence

The online safety law is inspired by Telegraph Duty of Care Campaign and introduced by the last Conservative government. It places a legal duty on social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful or age-inappropriate content, including pornography, self-harm and eating disorders.

Mr Kyle, who holds a doctorate in community development, spoke to the Telegraph fresh from a meeting with grieving parents who blame social media for the deaths of their children.

He said he was “frustrated” by the lack of “detailed, rigorous and peer-reviewed” evidence on the impact of social media and online activity on young or vulnerable people.

As a result, he will also announce on Wednesday that he is launching a study to study the effects of smartphone and social media use on children. The UK’s chief medical officer found in 2019 that the evidence on the impact of social media on children’s mental health was “inconclusive”.