The UK is the newest nation to comply with Australia in implementing a complete social media ban for kids beneath 16, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has introduced. The ban, which might take impact from early subsequent 12 months, might be joined by wider measures that can even stop kids from speaking to strangers in on-line video games, livestreaming, or utilizing sexual or romantic chatbots.
“Can we actually consider that social media creates a cheerful surroundings for our youngsters? Can we actually consider that it’s a spot the place they’ll really feel secure?” Starmer requested during a press conference saying the coverage. “I don’t assume I even have to reply these questions, do I?”
“Each mum or dad can see it with their very own eyes,” he mentioned. “Social media is making kids sad. It’s making it simpler for bullies to harass and abuse them, and it might even be harming their psychological well being, exposing them to content material that’s harmful as a result of that’s what grabs the eye. It’s designed to be addictive – after all it’s. Options just like the Infinite Scroll – they’re designed to lock you in for hours.”
Banned social media apps will embrace Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Fb, and X, although messaging apps like WhatsApp and Sign is not going to be lined. “Romantic companion chatbots” should implement a minimal age of 18, and “intimate functionalities” should be restricted for under-18s on extra normal AI instruments. Along with the restrictions on video games and livestreaming platforms, the UK authorities said in a statement that its new coverage will “go additional than another nation” in proscribing kids’s time on-line.
The restrictions could finally go additional nonetheless, with the federal government additionally taking a look at “in a single day curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under-18-year-olds,” with an announcement on that deliberate for subsequent month.
UK communications regulator Ofcom has been tasked with figuring out one of the best age verification measures for the coverage. The UK has required wide-ranging age verification measures since last summer beneath the On-line Security Act, which requires sure web sites to restrict entry to under-18s to stop them accessing pornography or content material perceived as harmful. That age verification has usually required customers to both add bank card info or authorities ID, or comply with a face scan to estimate their age.
“Tech corporations have had numerous alternatives to maintain kids secure, but they’ve did not act,” mentioned expertise secretary Liz Kendall. “That’s the reason we’re taking energy away from the tech giants and placing it again in dad and mom’ fingers.”
The federal government says laws is predicted to be offered to parliament earlier than the top of the 12 months, and that the primary set of rules might take impact from spring 2027. Australia’s ban on social media for under-16s went into impact in December 2025, and a number of governments worldwide at the moment are creating or contemplating related legal guidelines, together with Canada, France, Spain, and Denmark.
