Rejected petition Stop the digital age of consent being raised and allow teens to use social media

We want the digital age of consent to not be raised to 16, ripping away apps and taking away progress from children would be devastating for them, and would cause stress upon them. The raising would make people who find difficulty in talking to real life friends face-to-face difficult for them.

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I would like them to do it as I believe this will cause mass uprising of unhappiness for the younger people of the nation.
This ban would leave many 13-15 people all alone with none of their friends to talk to.
All users would have their progress they've been building up (followers, subscribers etc.) destroyed with no appeal, and no recovery once they are 16.
They could end up losing important things they have saved on these services, meaning they would be left deeply upset without them.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.

You may wish to sign this petition, which calls for similar action: "Do not ban social media for under 16s" https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/757233

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 23 January 2026
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