UK social media ban for under 16’s set to start in Spring 2027

Building on previous legislation such as the Online Safety Act 2023 and the Children’s Well Being and Schools Act 2026, the heavily trailed social media ban has now been officially announced. The timeline is that the plan is to bring everything to Parliament before Christmas 2026 and come into force in Spring 2027.

The restrictions will include platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X but exclude messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal.

While more detail is expected to be available in July, the basic outline of the aims, rather than how they will be achieved, is now known.

“Parents want to keep their kids safe and happy, but the online world has made that harder than ever. 

I’ve heard first hand from families crying out for change and we will do right by them.  

That’s why we’re going further than any country in the world by banning social media for under-16s and putting wider protections in place to give kids their childhood back. 

This is a line in the sand. 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.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer

Trying to summarise the actions, our list looks like:

• Ban on social media for under-16s
• Blocks on live-streaming and stranger communication for under-16s
• Restrictions will apply to a wider range of online services beyond the big headline ones, so gaming sites are included.
• Restrictions on by default for under 16’s and under 17’s – we suspect this means 17 year olds will have the option to change the setting if they wish.
• Overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under-18s may emerge in the detailed July announcements
• AI romantic companions will have to enforce a minimum age of 18
• Intimate functionality of other AI chatbots to be restricted for under-18s
• Tech companies have a 3-month deadline to stop children from taking, sharing or viewing nude images.

“Today we take a bold and significant step, towards creating a safer, healthier life online, for our children and future generations. 

Tech companies have had countless opportunities to keep children safe, yet they have failed to act. That is why we are a taking power away from the tech giants and putting it back in parents’ hands. 

My driving force has always been to give every child, from every background, the best possible start in life. That is what these regulations will deliver.”

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall

The issue of determining whether someone is over 16 has been passed over to Ofcom, and this is set to be a rapid study. We have the assumption here that, as Ofcom has been involved in adult content age verification, a lot of what has been learned from that means Ofcom has the right people already in place to assess what does and does not work.

Any one who is a parent or has been since the growth of social media will understand the challenges parents have faced, and the degree of peer pressure that can exist to create accounts among young people. To some extent, the shift by some platforms to using AI-based moderation to reduce costs rather than actual humans who are aware of the laws in a country may have forced the hand of the Government. There has been a shift and a big marketing push to make people aware of the content controls and parental restrictions on their platforms, but this coincides with the pre-announcement noise around the social media ban, rather than with policies and moderation in place from day 1 of a platform’s operation.

The issue around your device(s) knowing your age accurately is contentious for many, but given the power of social media and its constant presence at times being like a 1984 TV that can watch your every move and influence your thinking, the need to regulate how it can be used to mould young people is overdue. The difficulty is how to do this without making day-to-day life in a technology-driven world for adults ever more difficult.

It is possible that devices may use their own OS and an API so that there is no need for everyone to re-verify with every different social media app they have installed. Though even Apple, which generally has a good reputation for seamless user experiences, is not perfect in this area, if you decline age verification and are happy to accept services being restricted, you are still pestered to verify your age.

Update 11:15

Ofcom has now released a statement as follows:

“So far, Ofcom has driven some of the strongest changes of any online safety regulation in the world, from widespread age checks to grooming protections for children. But the industry needs to go much further to make people safe. The Government has entrusted us to build on this progress with new measures to protect children, and we’re ready to work closely with them as the detailed regulations take shape.”

Ofcom spokesperson