Ruby’s Law - Make social media illegal for under 16 yr olds
The Issue
I started this petition in 2019, two years after I lost my daughter Ruby. She was 15. Social media shaped her mood, her self-image, her darkest thoughts. There was no let up. She came home from school and it followed her through the door, into her bedroom, into the night.
I wanted it made illegal for under-16s. Not regulated. Not age-rated. Illegal. Because we'd tried everything else and it wasn't enough.
The Prime Minister has now announced the ban. It should have come sooner. It should have come before we lost Ruby, before we lost so many others. But it's here. And I'm not going to pretend that doesn't mean something.
But here's what I know after seven years of fighting. An announcement is not a law. And a law with no enforcement is just words.
Meta came out against this ban within hours. Snapchat said it would push children to "less safe platforms." Civil liberties groups are saying it's overreach. Some children's commissioners are calling it unworkable. The pressure on the government to soften this, delay this, quietly shelve this is already starting.
My twins Kitty and Florry have grown up without their sister. They've grown up on social media too, because what choice did they have? The pressure to be on it, to be visible, to count your likes and measure your worth didn't go away just because our family knew firsthand what it could cost.
We need this ban to become real law. We need proper legal enforcement, not platforms self-policing, not loopholes, not "we'll look at it in 2028." We need the government to hold the line when the lobbyists come.
I'm asking you to keep signing. Not because we haven't won anything — we have. But because Ruby deserved better, and so do the children still at risk right now.
We're calling on the government to:
- Pass the social media ban into law without delay or dilution
- Introduce independent, robust age verification, not self-declaration or platform promises
- Set out clear, public penalties for platforms that allow under-16s to access their services
- Publish an enforcement plan before the spring 2027 deadline
Let's finish what we started.
— Julie Crooks, Ruby's mum
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0JZz9xAiDT/?igshid=11vjpf2c2whpn
26,355
The Issue
I started this petition in 2019, two years after I lost my daughter Ruby. She was 15. Social media shaped her mood, her self-image, her darkest thoughts. There was no let up. She came home from school and it followed her through the door, into her bedroom, into the night.
I wanted it made illegal for under-16s. Not regulated. Not age-rated. Illegal. Because we'd tried everything else and it wasn't enough.
The Prime Minister has now announced the ban. It should have come sooner. It should have come before we lost Ruby, before we lost so many others. But it's here. And I'm not going to pretend that doesn't mean something.
But here's what I know after seven years of fighting. An announcement is not a law. And a law with no enforcement is just words.
Meta came out against this ban within hours. Snapchat said it would push children to "less safe platforms." Civil liberties groups are saying it's overreach. Some children's commissioners are calling it unworkable. The pressure on the government to soften this, delay this, quietly shelve this is already starting.
My twins Kitty and Florry have grown up without their sister. They've grown up on social media too, because what choice did they have? The pressure to be on it, to be visible, to count your likes and measure your worth didn't go away just because our family knew firsthand what it could cost.
We need this ban to become real law. We need proper legal enforcement, not platforms self-policing, not loopholes, not "we'll look at it in 2028." We need the government to hold the line when the lobbyists come.
I'm asking you to keep signing. Not because we haven't won anything — we have. But because Ruby deserved better, and so do the children still at risk right now.
We're calling on the government to:
- Pass the social media ban into law without delay or dilution
- Introduce independent, robust age verification, not self-declaration or platform promises
- Set out clear, public penalties for platforms that allow under-16s to access their services
- Publish an enforcement plan before the spring 2027 deadline
Let's finish what we started.
— Julie Crooks, Ruby's mum
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0JZz9xAiDT/?igshid=11vjpf2c2whpn
The Decision Makers
Supporter Voices
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on 18 July 2019