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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday announced a forthcoming total ban on social media for children under 16, saying that such platforms are “making children unhappy”.
Starmer said that the government “will ban access to social media for all children under the age of 16”, warning that these platforms are “exposing them to content that is dangerous” and “designed to be addictive”.
The government said the ban will “include platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X” but not messaging services such as WhatsApp.
He added he hoped to pass the regulation by late December and for the ban to come into force in the spring next year.
The prime minister also said the government would go further and take “world-leading action on gaming services and live streaming platforms”.
The government said in a statement it would also be considering overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under 18s, and would announce more details in July.
Starmer said the upcoming ban was influenced by the experience of Australia, which in December became the first nation to ban people under 16 from social media.
The announcement follows a government-led consultation where British teenagers trialled social media bans and time limits on apps.
A spokesperson for YouTube responded with a warning that such a blanket ban would push children towards “less safe services”.
Starmer said that the government was “taking action” on gaming services and live streaming platforms that allow strangers to contact children.
“Is there a situation in the offline world where you would just let your child pair up with a stranger? An adult that you don’t know about? No. So we’re taking action on that,” he said, without giving details.
Canada’s culture minister last week introduced legislation that would ban children under 16 from having social media accounts and require AI chatbot services to limit the production of harmful content.
The proposed Digital Safety Act makes Canada the latest in a number of countries cracking down on social media platforms over concerns of harm to children.
Indonesia began enforcing its own social media ban for users under the age of 16 in March, while several European governments have announced their desire to make similar moves.
The UK government’s consultation on the issue, which closed in late May, attracted about 116,000 contributions, making it the second-largest response ever received.
Over 83 per cent of parents who responded said the risks posed by social media outweighed the benefits for children, with 91 per cent backing a minimum age of 16.
The UK announcement comes a week after the government said tech giants must stop children in Britain from being able to send and receive nude images on their devices.
Britain’s interior ministry said it was giving companies, including Apple and Google, three months to introduce safety features to block children from taking and accessing naked photos on phones and tablets.
If they failed to do so, the government would introduce legislation forcing them to activate the technology, it warned.
Starmer’s centre-left Labour government said technology companies had a “moral responsibility” to “protect children from coercion, abuse and sextortion”.
A law change would stop children from being able to access pornography, while also making it more difficult for child abusers to target children, it said.
According to an analysis by the Internet Watch Foundation charity cited by the government, 91 per cent of online child sexual abuse reports recorded in 2024 contained self-generated content from children themselves.
AFP
