UK to Ban Social Media for Under-16s, Prime Minister Starmer Announces

Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Monday that the U.K. will ban social media from offering services to under-16s, as governments worldwide face increasing pressure to ensure child safety online.

The ban could encompass platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X, but might exclude messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Signal. The initial set of regulations could be implemented as early as spring 2027.

The U.K. intends to base its strategy on landmark Australian legislation enacted late last year, but will go further by introducing additional restrictions on features considered particularly detrimental to children.

These measures include prohibiting livestreaming and communication with strangers for users under 16. Similar protections will be activated by default for 16- and 17-year-olds. The government is also exploring options for overnight curfews and methods to limit infinite scrolling for minors.

"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," Starmer stated in a release.

Starmer remarked at a press conference that social media contributes to children's unhappiness and is designed to be addictive. He acknowledged that the decision was not made lightly and would involve costs, while also noting the benefits social media has provided to young people.

The ban follows a series of high-profile cases in the U.K. linked to social media and self-harm, and is supported by mounting evidence of its negative implications on young individuals.

Opponents of social media bans contend that broad prohibitions are ineffective and would merely restrict access to age-appropriate experiences managed by parental controls, suggesting that young people would circumvent the ban. For instance, a BBC report indicated an increase in VPN downloads in Australia, which mask users' locations to bypass country-specific restrictions, prior to the ban.

The announcement, which extended the social media ban further than other nations have to date, received mixed reactions. While some welcomed it as a positive initial step towards ensuring children's online safety, others expressed doubts about the efficacy of the measures.

"The real question is whether it makes the regime stronger or simply harder to enforce," commented Diane Mullenex, a technology lawyer at the legal services firm Pinsent Masons. "Once ministers move beyond social media into livestreaming and chatbots more widely, the law becomes far more complex to police, especially where services are based overseas or can be accessed through VPNs," she added.

The ban is being introduced as Starmer faces escalating political pressure domestically, with several ministers resigning and mounting challenges to his leadership following unfavorable local election results for his governing Labour Party in May.

Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor and a politician who has threatened to challenge Starmer's leadership, has advocated for stricter regulations on AI, Big Tech, and key industries should he return to central government.

"Tech companies have had countless opportunities to keep children safe, yet they have failed to act. That is why we are taking power away from the tech giants and putting it back in parents' hands," declared Technology Secretary Liz Kendall.

A YouTube spokesperson informed CNBC that the platform has invested in "expert-led, age-appropriate experiences and default protections for teens," and that "blanket bans push kids out of such curated, supervised, beneficial experiences and towards anonymous, less safe services." YouTube is a subsidiary of Google-parent Alphabet.

A Meta spokesperson stated that bans risk isolating teenagers from online communities and information, driving them toward unregulated alternatives. They emphasized that restrictions must be supported by age verification systems to be effective.

Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, has implemented Teen Accounts, which include built-in safety profiles automatically applied to users under 18.

Starmer mentioned that he spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday and would meet him again that afternoon for the G7 meeting, and that they would discuss "this and many other issues."

"The new proposals risk muddying the waters on online protection of children," said Giulia Carloni, senior associate at Winston Taylor.

She argued that not waiting to ascertain if existing legislation, such as the Online Safety Act which imposes a duty of care on tech companies to shield children from harmful content, is effective could lead to confusion and be detrimental, as regulators and public bodies would need to revise recently established policies and create new ones.

"It may also create a vacuum period during which tech companies will not know what safety measures to invest in, pending more detail on the new ban," Carloni concluded.

— CNBC's Kai Nicol-Schwarz and Sawdah Bhaimiya contributed to this report.