Overview
- Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Monday that the UK will prohibit children under 16 from using major social‑media platforms, with the government aiming for laws to be passed before year‑end and the rules to take effect in spring 2027.
- The restriction targets the same ten services named in Australia’s law — TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, X, Threads, Snapchat, Twitch and Kick — while excluding messaging apps and education services such as WhatsApp, Signal, YouTube Kids and Google Classroom.
- The plan also includes new protections for older teens, such as a night‑time ‘digital curfew’ for under‑18s, limits on infinite scroll, tighter controls on in‑game chat with strangers, and a ban on sexualized AI chatbots for minors.
- Ofcom has been asked to design age‑verification options for platforms, which the government says will make companies legally responsible for compliance and subject to multi‑million‑pound fines; critics warn that identity checks risk privacy harms and that VPNs or alternative services could let young people evade the ban.
- The move follows Australia’s December 2025 law and growing international momentum, and it sets up near‑term fights in Parliament, at the regulator and at international meetings over how to balance child protection, technical feasibility and digital rights.