The BBC understands that the government is considering stricter online security measures to limit the time children spend on social media.
The proposal includes two hours of using a single social media app and a 22:00 curfew, as the Sunday Man and Mirror first reported.
Technical Secretary Peter Kyle appeared on the BBC’s Sunday in Laura Kuenssberg program, saying he was looking at the “addictional nature of certain applications and smartphones” when asked whether time limits would be considered.
However, online security campaigners accuse the government of delaying the introduction of new laws to protect children.
“The government delays the introduction of tougher online security laws every day because of investigations and inaction from large technology into large technologies, and we see more loss and damage to young lives,” said Ian Russell’s daughter Molly, who took his life at the age of 14 after seeing harmful content online.
Mr Russell, who supported the last administration’s online security bill, said only “stronger and more effective” legislation would “ultimately change dialing for essentially unsafe products and business models, thus prioritizing security over security.”
“Parents across the country are delighted to see the Prime Minister decisively show to calm the harm children face on the net, but pasting the cast won’t do that.”
Kyle told the BBC that he could not speak publicly about the government’s plans to strengthen the online security law, as legislation passed by the former Conservative government in 2023 has not yet been enacted.
He told the BBC that he had criminal sanctions against them.
He said he has been lying carefully about what the government is looking to “pin harder” on security, “understand the healthy online life of children” and “stop obstacles” to achieve that.
In January, Kyle told the BBC that internet security laws were “very unbalanced” and “unsatisfactory”, following calls from campaigners to strengthen the rules.
The minister expressed “frustration” to the Online Security Act but did not promise to change the legislation.
Whitehall sources later told the BBC there was no plan to repeal the bill.
