What do young people think of a social media ban?

Any ban on social media for under-16s agreed at Westminster will also apply in Northern Ireland.

That is according to the UK online safety minister Kanishka Narayan.

But young people who Narayan met in Belfast had mixed views on the proposal.

Nadia Mackiewicz from Carrickfergus is 17 years old so would avoid a ban, but she grew up with social media.

"I feel like there's not enough consultation with young people in terms of this ban," she said.

She thinks that online platforms can be a good way to make friends.

"Social media nowadays is a good way for young people to interact with each other."

Nadia and other young members of the #iwill youth movement met the minister at an event in Belfast to give him their views.

"A lot of the volunteering stuff I have found has actually been through social media.

"I feel like banning social media completely for young people can actually limit political engagement."

The UK government is currently consulting the public on whether to ban social media for under-16s.

Australia recently became the first country in the world to ban under-16s from using major social media services.

Ministers in the UK have previously said that they are committed to introducing social media restrictions.

But the government is also asking the public if they think the minimum age to use social media should be lower, for instance 13.

They are also seeking the public's views on other possible measures including:

• Whether platforms should be required to switch off addictive features like infinite scrolling and autoplay
• Whether mandatory night-time curfews should be introduced on some apps to limit children's screen time

The consultation will end on Tuesday 26 May but relatively few people in Northern Ireland have responded.

It has so far attracted almost 70,000 responses, but only around 700 from parents and young people in Northern Ireland.

Narayan said that the government would act quickly in response to the results of the consultation.

"There is this deep sense that young people's experience online is not good enough," he told BBC News NI.

"Lots of instances of bullying but also this long-term impact on mental health, on sleep and relationships.

"And so we want to act to protect our young people and put their interests first.

"Whatever we do the burden of it is not going to fall on parents and on families, it's going to fall on tech companies."

19-year-old Mark Brashier from Dundonald told BBC News NI that for the government to consider a ban was "understandable."

"But as with all matters it's not always black and white," he said.

He said that if he was younger he would be "a wee bit annoyed" by a ban on social media.

"Back when I was 14 was really when I began to understand the wider impact of social media in a social sense, with being able to talk to classmates, talk to friends and even gain new friends through social media," he said.

Any ban agreed in the UK parliament would apply across the UK, and young people from Scotland and England had come to Belfast to share their opinions on the plan.

19-year-old Rachel Talbot from Scotland said she did not think a ban would be effective.

"I worry that by banning young people from these spaces they turn to less regulated sites and then feel like they can't come forward with any issues that occur," she said.

"I also feel that it would take away from young people's voices.

"Social media is the one place that young people are always welcome to share their voice."

18-year-old Martim Baptista from England, though, did think that time limits on some apps could be a good idea.

"Social media can be a fantastic and dreadful thing at the same time," he said.

"Personally it's helped me a lot but I know that it can also be detrimental to many people.

"Perhaps we do need some restrictions, some change, but maybe not an all-out ban."

He said that he has used his phone "too much" for most of his life.

In Northern Ireland, almost all 16-year-olds use social media, according to research recently presented to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram were the most popular platforms.

The research, by academics from Queen's University of Belfast (QUB), suggested that nearly one-in-10 16-year-olds spent more than eight hours per day on social media, while around half spent 3-5 hours a day on social media.

More widely, according to the communications regulator Ofcom, 86% of children across the UK aged 10-12 have their own social media profile.

Ofcom has criticised TikTok and YouTube, saying in a new report their content feeds are "not safe enough" for children.