People should have the right to delete all social media posts they made before turning 18, Theresa May has said.
Under the Prime Minister's proposed "right to innocence" measure, social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram would have to wipe a person's pre-adulthood posting history if that person requested it.
May also said her Conservative Party election manifesto will include plans forcing social media platforms to do more to prevent inappropriate content from reaching young people.
"The internet has brought a wealth of opportunity, but also significant new risks which have evolved faster than society's response to them," the Prime Minister said in a press release. "We want social media companies to do more to help redress the balance and will take action to make sure they do."
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She added: "These measures will help make Britain the best place in the world to start and run a digital business, and the safest place in the world for people to be online."
Both the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats have criticised May's proposals. "Government and technology companies must do more to find a real solution to problematic content online but having a government agency deciding what constitutes acceptable free speech isn't it," Alistair Carmichael of the Liberal Democrats told the BBC.
"We need to be working with technology companies to address the problem of hate speech, not pretending it's an easy problem that can be solved with a press release."