NOW UNION CALLS FOR PHONE BAN

Teachers say social media is damaging kids. | And 81% see a rise in school violence & abuse.

- ALEXANDER BROWN

CALLS to ban social media for under16s are being backed by one of Britain's biggest teaching unions.

NASUWT is urging the government to force big tech platforms to prevent children from accessing their content, following Australia's ban last month.

The union says evidence shows unregulated access to social media is driving poorer behaviour at schools, harming kids' mental health and exposing them to violent and sexually explicit content.

It comes amid a row over Elon Muskowned X's AI chatbot Grok, which is being used to create sexualised images of people -including children - by users.

Matt Wrack, NASUWT general secretary, said: "Teachers are dealing every day with the fallout of a social media landscape not originally designed and not suitable for children.