The U.K. is moving closer to instituting a ban social media access for children, following in the footsteps of countries like Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Indonesia that have introduced legislation or announced age-based restrictions for social media platforms.
The Proposed Ban
As reported on Tuesday’s AM Update, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans to ban children under the age of 16 from social media with the restrictions expected to take effect in spring 2027. The new rules must first be approved by both houses of Parliament, but little resistance is expected.
The ban would target platforms built around users posting and sharing content, interacting with one another, and receiving material selected by algorithms. That means those under 16 would be blocked from services including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube, and X.
Messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal would remain exempt, along with certain educational, shopping, and music-streaming services.
In a sign Starmer is willing to go further than countries like Australia, whose ban took effect in December, he also proposed restrictions that extend beyond traditional social media. Children under 16 would be barred from livestreaming themselves on any platform. Additionally, he is considering overnight social-media curfews and mandatory breaks in infinite scrolling for users under 18.
More details on the proposals expected to be released next month.
Enforcement Plan
U.K. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall clarified Monday that enforcement would target tech companies, not children or their parents. Companies that fail to comply could face fines of up to 18 million pounds, roughly $24 million dollars, or 10 percent of their worldwide revenue, whichever is greater.
Britain’s communications regulator, Ofcom, will now study which age-verification systems can reliably determine whether a user is older than 16, while also developing a broader enforcement strategy. The government argued those checks must be harder to evade than the protections introduced in Australia, where many teens have reportedly continued reaching social media despite a similar ban.
Starmer’s announcement followed a nationwide public-comment period that drew more than 116,000 responses and found nine in 10 parents backed an under-16 social media ban. Critics, meanwhile, argue a blanket ban attacks children’s access without fixing the platforms themselves, leaving addictive algorithms and other dangerous features in place while teenagers find workarounds or move to less-regulated services.
The U.K. crackdown comes as social media companies face a widening legal assault in the United States.
Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube are among the companies facing thousands of claims from families, school districts, municipalities, and state governments – litigation that could reshape how the platforms are designed and marketed to children.
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