UK bans under-16s from social media in sweeping new rules
The government might also announce an overnight curfew.
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The UK government plans to ban social media access for under-16s and may add overnight curfews to reduce harmful screen time.
- The UK is raising the social media age limit from 13 to 16, and the first regulations could go into effect as early as Spring 2027.
- Platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, Snapchat, Reddit, Twitch, Threads, Kick, YouTube, and some gaming or virtual-world sites could be blocked for children under 16.
- Messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal are not expected to be included in the ban.
- AI romantic companion chatbots and sexually suggestive roleplay tools would require an 18+ age rating, with intimate features restricted for under-18s.
- The plan relies on age checks such as facial scans and digital IDs, but these tools raise privacy risks and have already shown security weaknesses.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that social media access for under-16s will be banned.
“We are banning social media access for under-16s,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a post on X this morning.
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This encompasses platforms designed to interact with other users, post material, and are subject to addictive algorithms.
The first set of regulations could go into effect as early as Spring 2027.
Many sites will be banned for under-16s, but the government doesn’t intend to ban
messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal.
This isn’t simply a “blanket ban on social media” as the UK is going further by establishing “world-leading blocks on harmful functions such as livestreaming and stranger communication,” according to the UK government.
What apps and sites will be banned?
Social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, Snapchat, Reddit, X, Twitch, Threads, Kick, and YouTube will be blocked for children under 16, as the UK government follows Australia's social media ban model.
These bans will “go further than any other country” and will apply to multiple different platforms, including gaming sites.
Platforms like Roblox, Minecraft, and VRChat will likely be banned for under-16s, considering that these platforms have been subject to various lawsuits and frequently accused of child endangerment.
Starmer also hinted at “curfews” for under-18s, in an attempt to eradicate doomscrolling.
This will supposedly block teenagers’ access to social media overnight, so they can’t access platforms during certain times.
Certain AI chatbots will now require an age rating
The government has gone even further by branding AI “romantic companion” chatbots with an 18+ age rating.
Sites that promote “AI girlfriends” or roleplaying with highly suggestive simulated characters will adopt this age rating in the UK.
Any AI that’s designed to “simulate sexual relationships or roleplay with users will have to enforce a minimum age of 18,” and similar “intimate functionalities will be restricted for under-18s” on typical chatbots like ChatGPT and Grok.
Other sites like Replika, Candy AI, Kupid AI, and Dream GF will be banned for users under 18.
How will the government check if you’re under 16?
The ban, which will raise the social media age limit from 13 to 16, will be enforced through age-recognition facial scans and digital IDs.
Ofcom will also conduct a rapid study, focused on effective age assurance for verifying whether someone is over 16, the government said.
Youngsters are already exploiting age-recognition facial scans, bypassing age verification using fake mustaches and counterfeit IDs.
Effective age verification usually requires both children and adults to prove their age using biometric information, credit cards, or government IDs or passports.
This poses security and privacy risks for both adults and children, and requires users to trust that the verification service will store their data securely.
Age-verification apps are already getting hacked
Security researchers and hackers alike have shown that it’s simple enough to hack verification apps.
A newly unveiled European age-verification app came under scrutiny after a security researcher claimed he’d bypassed its protections in just under 2 minutes.
The EU’s age-verification app lets users prove their age online without handing over personal data to platforms, removing the need for sites to collect sensitive information.
While users don’t want to hand over (more of) their personal data to social media platforms, the hack shows that any platform can be vulnerable to attacks.
Tech giants had their shot and blew it, say politicians
With this ban, the UK government can give “children their childhoods back” by eradicating exposure to harmful content and returning kids to a form of play that doesn’t involve endless screentime.
While the ban may not do much to help this generation of chronically online children, it plans to set a precedent for future generations by establishing “a new normal” and “kickstarting a cultural shift” that intends to “give every child the best start in life.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that tech giants were given the opportunity to make changes to protect children.
“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 that while tech companies “had countless opportunities to keep children safe…they failed to act.”
Which is why the government is “taking power away from tech giants and putting it back in parents’ hands.”
YouTube, Meta, Snapchat say ban is risky
Social media firms have clapped back at the governments plans to ban under-16s from using their platforms.
A Meta spokesperson told The Guardian that children will end up on unregulated parts of the internet, which will end up harming them more than if they used their sites, as evidenced by the Australian social media ban.
Google's YouTube mirrored Meta's statement, saying that these types of bans are counterintuitive, as it pushes kids out to less curated and unsupervised areas of the web.
Snapchat claims that UK kids use its app for messaging friends and family, so banning the app will likely make teens feel isolated, and thus, push them to unregulated parts of the internet.
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