Keeping Children Safe Online
Danny Chambers: We need to stop the bots
AI Chatbots are posing a huge public health threat to millions. Why is the government dragging its heels?
17 Feb 2026
Keeping Children Safe Online
Danny and the Liberal Democrats are fighting to keep children safe online.
Social media is one of the biggest mental health risks to children. There is a strong, growing body of evidence that addictive algorithms and harmful content are damaging children’s mental and physical health.
Danny is calling for urgent action to keep children safe online, including:
- Banning under-16s from accessing social media, with a new ‘age rating’ system in place for websites. This approach is supported by over 40 charities, including the NSPCC, the Molly Rose Foundation, and the Internet Watch Foundation.
- A “Ban on Doom Scrolling” to cap the amount of time young people can spend on these apps to two hours a day, so they can have the chance to break free from the addictive monotony that doom scrolling brings.
- Banning AI mental health chatbots, which purport to be children's friends.
- A legal ban on smartphone use in schools, enshrining existing guidance into law.
Add your name: Protect children online
I back the Liberal Democrat plan to protect children online with film-style age-rating to ban harmful social media for under 16s.
Latest news on the campaign
Keeping Children Safe Online
Danny Chambers: ban social media for under 16s
Danny is pushing an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that would introduce a default minimum age of 16 for social media use, along with film-style ratings of up to 18 for the most harmful platforms.
24 Jan 2026
Keeping Children Safe Online
Lib Dem-run Winchester backs Smartphone Free Childhood
The motion was introduced by Lib Dem councillors John Tippett-Cooper and Kathleen Becker, who are both parents of young children.
8 Nov 2024