Social media to be banned for under-16s under UK Government plans
Children under 16 will be blocked from using social media platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook and X under plans announced by the UK Government.
The ban will stop those platforms from offering their services to under-16s, and will apply across the UK.
The Government said it would model the ban on the system used in Australia, covering platforms whose purpose is social interaction and which use algorithms to recommend content.
Messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal are not included.
The plans go beyond a straight ban.
The Government said it would also restrict features it considers harmful, such as livestreaming and strangers being able to contact children, for under-16s across a wider range of services including gaming sites.
Those restrictions would be switched on by default for 16 and 17-year-olds as well, to avoid what the Government called a cliff-edge at 16.
Ministers said they were also looking at overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under-18s, with more detail promised in July.
Separately, AI chatbots designed to simulate romantic or sexual relationships will have to enforce a minimum age of 18.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said:
“Parents want to keep their kids safe and happy, but the online world has made that harder than ever.”
“That’s why we’re going further than any country in the world by banning social media for under-16s and putting wider protections in place to give kids their childhood back.”
“This is a line in the sand. Tech giants had their chance and failed, but we’re stepping in to protect children, back parents and set a new normal for future generations.”
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said tech companies had been given repeated opportunities to keep children safe and had failed to act.
The announcement followed a Government consultation that drew more than 116,000 responses from parents, children and experts.
The Government said 9 in 10 parents who responded supported a ban for under-16s, and that two-thirds of young people agreed children younger than 16 should not be allowed to use at least some platforms.
The media regulator Ofcom, which would enforce the rules, said it was ready to work with the Government on the detail.
An Ofcom spokesperson said:
“So far, Ofcom has driven some of the strongest changes of any online safety regulation in the world, from widespread age checks to grooming protections for children. But the industry needs to go much further to make people safe. The Government has entrusted us to build on this progress with new measures to protect children, and we’re ready to work closely with them as the detailed regulations take shape.”
Ofcom will carry out a study on how to verify whether a user is over 16, and the Technology Secretary has asked the regulator to review its enforcement powers.
How the age checks would work in practice is not yet settled.
Ernest Doku, technology expert at Uswitch.com, said verifying under-16s would in practice mean platforms checking all users, with adults likely asked to confirm their age through ID or a selfie.
Doku said Uswitch research found nearly half of parents, 46 per cent, did not know that VPNs and private browsers can get around restrictions already on a child’s phone.
The same research found that three in ten parents who had controls in place, 30 per cent, said their child had found a way around them at least once.
Doku said free parental controls were already available through most mobile networks and broadband providers and took minutes to set up.
The Government said it expected to bring the measures to Parliament before Christmas, using powers already taken through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, with the first set of rules expected to come into force in spring 2027.
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