Social media bans are old news—now the U.K. is considering banning phone sales to kids under 16

Last year the U.K. passed a landmark law called the Online Safety Act that was largely concerned with protecting kids online. It introduced age verification for adult services and forced social media platforms to shield young users from harmful content, among other (often contentious) things.

Now the country may take an even more drastic step.

According to multiple outlets, government ministers are seriously considering banning the sale of mobile phones to children under 16. This, in a country where 97% of kids own a phone by the age of 12.

There are reportedly a bunch of motivations behind this, such as the prevalence of social-media bullying, exposure to pornography, and violent content. The most prominent campaigner for a ban has been Esther Ghey, who believes the teenage murderers of her daughter Brianna were partly inspired by seeing violent material online.

After the British government in February gave schools guidance on how to institute phone bans, the influential charity Parentkind commissioned a poll that showed 58% of parents would support a ban on smartphones for under-16s—though breaking this down, the parents of 5- to 11-year-olds were much likelier than those of 11- to 16-year-olds to back such a move. A February poll by research outfit More in Common found 64% of parents supported such a ban. Lawmaker Miriam Cates, from the governing Conservative Party, has also openly called for a ban to protect children’s mental health.

But will the ban actually happen? There are certainly a few reasons to suspect not.

Firstly, many of the problems that a ban would supposedly fix have already been theoretically addressed in the Online Safety Act, which was passed less than a year ago. Secondly, many British Conservatives do not like the idea of getting too involved in parental decisions. As one unnamed government source told the Guardian: “It’s not the government’s role to step in and microparent; we’re meant to make parents more aware of the powers they have like restrictions on websites, apps, and even the use of parental control apps.”

Also, nothing would stop parents from buying devices for their offspring; even Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has given his young daughters phones.

So this is far from a done deal, but if the ban were to become a reality, it would be a seminal moment in the growing movement to shield kids from the worst of online life. Banning kids from accessing social media—as many U.S. states have legislated to do—is one thing, as is controlling usage within the school environment. But saying kids can’t buy what are essentially general-purpose computers would be quite a different matter.

More news below. And do check out Fortune’s most recent Leadership Next podcast, which features Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost discussing AI’s impact on housing supply and the creative industries, among other things. It’s available on Apple and Spotify.

David Meyer

Want to send thoughts or suggestions to Data Sheet? Drop a line here.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com