Image copyright Facebook/AFP/Google Image caption Jeremy Hunt has written to a number of internet companies, including Facebook and Google

Social media firms are being threatened with new laws if they don't do more to protect children online. “I am concerned that your companies seem content with a situation where thousands of users breach your own terms and conditions on the minimum user age,” Hunt said in a letter sent to tech firms and reported in the Sunday Times. “I fear that you are collectively turning a blind eye to a whole generation of children being exposed to the harmful emotional side effects of social media prematurely.”

In an article in the Sunday Times newspaper, Hunt said there had been a few welcome moves to improve children’s online protection, but that the overall response had been “extremely limited” and that a voluntary approach might not be enough. The intervention comes six months after Mr Hunt set in train a working group on children and young people’s mental health and social media that involved Facebook, Snapchat, Google and others. Katie O'Donovan, public policy manager at Google UK, said the company had shown its commitment to protecting children by developing its resources - such as an online safety course which has been taught to 40,000 schoolchildren.
UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt writes to social media firms including Google and Facebook giving them until the end of the month to come up with ways to counter online bullying, underage usage, and unhealthy amounts of interaction online. He says they will face new legislation if they do not comply.