UK Reprimanded Over Social Media Laws By US Diplomats At Confidential Embassy Summit
2 min read
Exclusive: British officials were hauled into a private meeting at the US embassy on Monday and dressed down over the Online Safety Act, along with their plans to ban under-16s from social media and prioritise public broadcasters’ prominence online.
According to sources familiar with the discussions, representatives from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) along with other high-ranking government officials were called in to hear the Deputy Chief of Mission’s concerns that the social media ban would discriminate against US tech companies.
The US is understood to believe there have been failures in the Australian social media ban, with officials highlighting small drops in usage by Under 16s. They argue that more parental controls rather than a widespread ban would work better.
Following a consultation, the U-16 ban was announced in June this year, after Australia introduced the world's first outright ban on social media for under-16s in December 2025. Labour MP Emily Darlington, one of those who campaigned for the ban, told PoliticsHome: “The first duty of the government is to protect its citizens. Digital security is national security. It would be great to work with our allies on this, but if the UK has to, it will proceed alone”.
While the meeting was presented as non-adversarial, PoliticsHome understands the US intended to use it to raise a litany of criticisms across a number of ministerial portfolios. The US feels the way in which the Online Safety Act’s levy on revenues from big tech firms is taken from a proportion of their global revenue rather than reflecting their UK size is unfair.
American officials are also believed to have repeated their warnings around the UK’s ‘trusted media’ reforms, which would see the BBC, ITV and others prioritised on social media algorithms, question how media brands were being placed in the ‘trusted’ camp and raised concerns that the changes to the algorithm could inadvertently affect US citizens.
The US Embassy declined to comment. A DCMS source described the meeting as “routine engagement” and said the department would “continue to work closely to ensure policies are understood and to identify shared priorities”.
The intervention comes amid heightened tensions in the ‘special relationship’ after it was revealed that the US secretly flew out a diplomat accused of possessing child abuse images from the UK to face justice in the US.
