Streeting likens social media to tobacco as pressure grows for under-16s ban

Calls are growing for an under-16s social media ban (Yui Mok/PA) - (PA Wire)

Wes Streeting has likened tech companies to the tobacco industry, and medical leaders have compared the dangers of social media to smoking, as pressure grows on ministers to impose a ban for under-16s ahead of the closure of an online safety consultation.

The Government’s Growing Up In The Online World consultation, which floated measures such an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s, app curfews and limits on addictive features, closes at the end of Tuesday.