The social media petition that's a Tory data-harvesting scam

A new campaign has been set up to campaign for under-16s to be banned, Australia-style, from using social media, with a website and petition calling for the move.

The campaign, by the hitherto-unknown What Labour Said group, demands “Get Children off Social Media” and urges people to “Support parents and protect children. Sign our petition urging Labour to restrict social media to those aged 16 and over”.

Like most online petitions, it asks for citizens’ names and email addresses and to confirm that they are UK residents. Unlike most online petitions, though – and with apparently nothing to do with children using social media – it asks how the signatory voted in the 2024 general election “to help us understand public views better”.

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It also asks to mark, from 1-10, how likely they are to vote for the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Reform, Greens, Plaid Cymru and the SNP in the coming local elections in May.

It is only when one gets to the very bottom of the page – by which time the user is likely to have clicked the ‘Get Kids off Social Media’ button – that, in much smaller font size, is the giveaway: “Promoted by Sheridan Westlake on behalf of the Conservative Party, both at Conservative Campaign Headquarters, 4 Matthew Parker St, London, SW1H 9HQ.”

So rather than being a petition with any serious intent of influencing the law on children using social media, the site is actually both a market research tool and data-harvester on behalf of the Tories, allowing the party to hoover up as many email addresses as it can before the May elections.