House of Commons – May 7, 2025 – 189

New Clause 19 - Secretary of State’s duty to review the age of consent for data processing under the UK GDPR “(1) The Secretary of State must, within 12 months of Royal Assent of this Act, have conducted a review and published a report into the operation of Article 8 (Conditions applicable to child’s consent in relation to information society services) of the UK GDPR in relation to the data processed by social media platforms of children under the age of 16. (2) As part of this review, the Secretary of State must consider— (a) the desirability of increasing the digital age of consent under the UK GDPR from 13 to 16, taking into account the available evidence in relation to the impact of social media platforms on the educational, social and emotional development of children;

and (b) the viability of increasing the digital age of consent under Article 8 of the UK GDPR in relation to specific social media platforms which are shown by the evidence to be unsuitable for use by children under the age of 16. (3) Within six months of the publication of the report under subsection (1), the Secretary of State must lay a plan before Parliament for raising the digital age of consent to 16 through amendments to Article 8 GDPR, unless the review concludes that such changes are unnecessary.”—(Dr Spencer.)