UK to ban social media for under-16s: A “line in the sand”

The UK Government has announced plans to ban social media platforms from offering services to children under 16. The announcement is one of the most significant proposed interventions in online platform regulation since the Online Safety Act 2023 (the “OSA”).

Scope and structure of the proposed ban

The UK plans to build on the approach taken by Australia, with commentators describing the UK model as “Australia plus”. The ban will capture user-to-user platforms whose primary purpose is to enable social interaction and which allow users to post material, alongside algorithms. Although the Government has stated that it is considering how to determine exactly which platforms will fall under the restrictions, it has confirmed that Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X will be caught. As the plan is not to ban educational services, e-commerce platforms or music streaming, there will be a narrowly defined list of exemptions to the definitions which will be kept under review. Importantly, the Government has also clarified that messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal are not intended to be captured. 

Beyond the headline social media ban, the Government also plans wider restrictions on specific harmful functionalities for under-16s, including livestreaming and features that allow strangers to communicate with under-16s. These restrictions will apply to a wider range of services than those caught by the blanket ban, including gaming sites. For 16- and 17-year-olds, the same restrictions will be applied on a default-on basis, designed to mitigate the risk of 16 year olds facing a digital cliff-edge (caused by age restrictions resulting in children who have had no engagement with social media suddenly using platforms with full capabilities when they turn 16, without having developed any digital literacy).

Additional proposals include overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under-18s, with further detail expected in July 2026, when the Government will publish its full response to its consultation on “Growing up in the online world”. AI “romantic companion” chatbots designed to simulate sexual relationships or roleplay will be subject to a minimum user age of 18, and similar intimate functionalities on AI chatbots more broadly will be restricted for under-18s.

Age assurance and enforcement

The Government has acknowledged from the outset that effective age assurance is critical to the credibility of the ban. Ministers have stated that they will learn lessons from Australia’s experience by introducing “more highly effective age assurance measures” to support compliance and make it harder for children to bypass safeguards.

With Ofcom set to lead on supporting the implementation and enforcement of the ban, the Secretary of State has written to Ofcom’s new Chair requesting an urgent review of the regulator’s enforcement capabilities, with Ofcom to set out a  clear enforcement strategy as soon as possible.  Ofcom Chief Executive Dame Melanie Dawes, in a letter also published on 15 June 2026, has confirmed the regulator’s readiness to work closely with DSIT to support with delivering the new restrictions. The letter states that Ofcom has already commenced work on options for effective age assurance at 16 and will deliver an assessment that can inform parliamentary debate by the end of October 2026, as also requested by the Secretary of State. This assessment is expected to address the technological feasibility of various age assurance mechanisms, their proportionality, and their compatibility with privacy requirements. 

Broader context

The proposed ban does not operate in a vacuum. The OSA already imposes duties on platforms to prevent children from accessing harmful and age-inappropriate content and to conduct children’s risk assessments, with hefty potential fines for non-compliance. However, in recent months there has been increasingly intense scrutiny as to whether these existing measures do enough to protect children online (see our recent blog), and calls for a ban on social media access by minors have been mounting.  

That said, as explored in more detail in our briefing from last month, significant challenges to whether a ban is the right approach have also been raised, including by several prominent child safety organisations and experts. Whilst the Government’s proposals contain measures expressly aimed at mitigating some of these – they do not answer some key concerns, including:

• the digital "cliff edge” risk (despite the proposals containing a form of “on-ramp” for 16 and 17-year-olds);
• the risk that the ban diminishes platform incentives to increase overall safety (and generally creates an adversarial environment between platforms and regulators);
• the difficulties with enforcing any such ban effectively, and the associated risk that minors disperse to platforms that are either not captured by the prohibitions or do not observe them. In this context it is unsurprising that the UK Government’s press release has stressed the importance of effective age assurance, but that alone will not answer the issue of new, unregulated platforms emerging around the bans. In a letter sent by Ofcom’s Online Safety Group Director to the Government yesterday, Ofcom acknowledged this risk and said the regulator will produce a follow-up report in the first year of the social media ban coming into force to specifically consider the issue of displacement.

What to watch next

The Government has paved the way for these measures to be introduced quickly, with powers granted in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act in April (as discussed in our briefing). The Government has indicated that legislative measures will be brought before Parliament before Christmas 2026, with protections expected to come into force in Spring 2027. The immediate milestones to watch are: further detail on overnight curfews and scrolling breaks expected in July and Ofcom’s assessment on effective age assurance at 16 due by the end of October.

The Government’s press release notes that more than 116,000 responses were received in a national conversation, with 9 in 10 parents supporting the ban. That backing may give the Government confidence to move swiftly, but the complexities of effective age assurance and cross-border enforcement will shape the final legislative form. In the meantime, as the new measures will sit alongside the existing OSA obligations, platforms will need to consider how an outright ban on under-16 access, and the additional restrictions on functionalities for older teenagers, will interact with their current risk assessments, age assurance mechanisms, and terms of service.