Sir Keir Starmer is set to announce plans for a consultation on social media restrictions for under-16s amid growing calls for an Australian-style ban.
Ministers are expected to make an announcement on a consultation shortly, The Independent understands, after dozens of Labour MPs signed an open letter urging the prime minister to back a ban.
The consultation, which was first reported by The Times, is expected to look at all options for reform including a blanket ban, or limits on app time.
It comes after the mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey sent a letter to the prime minister, urging him to back an amendment to stop children under 16 from using social media platforms.
In a joint letter from the Bereaved Families for Online Safety on Monday, Esther Ghey described how her daughter had a social media addiction and was “exacerbated by the harmful content she was consuming online”.
“I speak not only as Brianna’s mother, but alongside many other bereaved parents who have lost their children to harms that began or were amplified online,” the letter, signed by a number of bereaved parents, reads.
“Some have lost children after they were groomed by online predators, others through dangerous online challenges, and others following prolonged exposure to self-harm and suicide content.”
It adds: “The online world our children are living in, and the harms that come with it, are vast. We need a multi-pronged approach to address this crisis properly, one that includes legislation, regulation, education, and societal change.”
On Monday, Sir Keir said that “no options are off the table” when it comes to changes to the use of social media for children.
“We are obviously looking at what’s happened in Australia, something I’ve discussed with the Australian prime minister (Anthony Albanese),” the prime minister said.
“I don’t think it’s just a question of social media and children under 16. I think we have got to look at a range of measures.”
The expected announcement comes ahead of a vote in the Lords this week on an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which would require social media platforms to stop children under 16 from using their platforms within a year of the bill passing.
It comes as more than 60 Labour MPs sign an open letter urging the prime minister to back a ban for under-16s.
The letter calls on the government to take action to “protect young people from the consequences of unregulated, addictive social media platforms”.
“Across our constituencies, we hear the same message: children are anxious, unhappy and unable to focus on learning,” it reads. “They are not building the social skills needed to thrive, nor having the experience that will prepare them for adulthood.”
The letter, signed by dozens of backbenchers as well as education select committee chair Helen Hayes, former whip Vicky Foxcroft, and former education minister Catherine McKinnell, says Britain risks being “left behind” if it does not act.
The UK’s largest teaching union has also said the prime minister should fully support an amendment for an outright ban.
National Education Union (NEU) general secretary Daniel Kebede said Number 10 signalling it is open to raising the age limit for social media “was a welcome shift”.
Mr Kebede said: “The additional pressure from Labour backbench MPs needs to move Keir Starmer to full support of this amendment to ban social media for under 16s. This cannot be a moment for passivity – it demands leadership
“Every day, parents and teachers see how social media shapes children’s identities and attention long before they sit their GCSEs, pulling them into isolating, endless loops of content.”
However, at the weekend 42 child protection charities and online safety groups issued a joint statement warning a blanket social media ban would not deliver the improvement in child safety and wellbeing needed, and would treat “the symptoms, not the problem”.
Instead, the government should strengthen the online safety act to require platforms to robustly enforce risk-based age limits, the organisations said.