Congleton constituency MP, Sarah Russell, whose area includes Alsager, has spoken in an e-petition debate relating to a minimum age for social media.

The petition petitioners are seeking a ban on children under the age of 16 from creating social media accounts.

This is aimed at preventing online bulling, the influence of misinformation, and from seeing content encouraging violent or harmful behaviour that could damage their future.

Ofcom research shows that almost a quarter of social media users between eight and twelve have a profile that displays them to be eighteen or older. 

Almost 200 local constituents signed the e-petition, alongside a number from neighbouring constituencies. Russell spoke about the dangers of false ages being used online, and particularly the underage use of dating apps.

Sarah Russell MP said: "As a parent, I've been really shocked at how much pressure and risk there is for young people from social media.

"There is a danger of romanticising our past - childhood is not the same as it was, but actually, previous generations didn't always have a totally rosy experience either.

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"We need to ensure we've got the right safeguards in place to promote the health and wellbeing of our children and young people, whilst enabling them to get the best out of technology."

The Online Safety Act (Bill) was first introduced by the previous government in 2023 with the objective of keeping users safe and improving society's understanding of online risks.

Since December 2024, Labour have further mandated online safety regulator Ofcom to begin their implementation of the Act.

The Act requires social media companies to consistently enforce age limits and specify in their terms what measures are being used to prevent underage access.

The Labour government have committed to strong action to protect children online, not stopping at the implementation of the Act.

In the debate, Sarah Russell said: "We need to understand fundamentally that when we are talking about social media, children are a 'product'.

"When the service you use on the internet doesn't cost any money, the gain to the person providing it to you is having access to your thoughts, your feelings, and your communications. In this case, it is our children's thoughts, their feelings, and their communications.

"The ability to target content at [children] is like nothing we have ever imagined."

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According to Ofcom – who Sarah Russell cites have been given a significant responsibility regarding safety assessments in the Online Safety Bill -, 77% of social media users aged between 8 and 17 have their own account on one of the large platforms.

Pressures from social groups to be increasingly online, or limited access to the platforms should the person be honest about their age, are said to encourage bypassing age requirements.

Sarah Russell added: "When I was researching for this debate, I became aware of the risk that if a parent says that a child is older than they are in an app set up, so they can access something that parent thinks the child is ready for, there is an 'ageing risk' later on. Lots of apps have different settings for over 16s.

"A child who at, for instance, eight or nine is allowed to put in a false date of birth to allow access to an app for ages 13 plus, then effectively 'becomes' 16 for the purposes of safety settings five years earlier, at 11 or 12.

"This then lets adults communicate with that child much more easily. It is something I highlighted in Parliament, and that we need to raise awareness of."

Sarah Russell also highlighted in the debate that this is a complex issue with no simple answers, but that if we ban social media for under 16s, those same companies could take away safeguarding measures – as children "are not allowed on the apps anyway" and therefore "completely abdicating responsibility".

In her closing statement, the Congleton constituency MP said: "We have to be realistic about the capacity of both parents and schools to actually manage these issues.

"These corporations have a huge, vested interest in exploiting our children, and we have to figure out how better to protect them."

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