UK Bill Proposes Ministerial Powers to Ban Children from Social Media by Order

Labour MP Olivia Bailey introduced a bill that would grant the Science Secretary (Liz Kendall) sweeping executive powers to ban children of specified ages from entire social media platforms and chatbots, restrict "addictive" features, limit children's VPN use to circumvent content blocks, and raise the age of digital consent — all by ministerial order rather than primary legislation. Critics warned the VPN restriction and minister-by-order model created a template for broader internet access controls without parliamentary scrutiny.

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