The Government has decided to follow in Australia’s footsteps with a complete ban for under-16s, while pledging additional restrictions on gaming and AI chatbots
The proposed social media ban follows an extensive and highly-debated consultation, which received over 116,000 responses
On 15 June 2026, Sir Keir Starmer (Prime Minister, UK) announced plans to legislate for a complete social media ban for under-16s, making the UK the 15th country to formally introduce such a proposal according to our Age-Based Restrictions benchmark in our Online Safety Tracker. The decision follows the Government’s extensive “Growing up in the online world” consultation, which ran for over three months and closed as recently as 26 May 2026. The consultation received more than 116,000 responses submitted by parents, children and experts across the country, with nine in 10 parents saying they would support a social media ban for children under 16. The Government is hoping to streamline the legislative process, having already passed the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, which would allow it to use secondary legislation to introduce the ban. This will prevent it from having to bring in an entirely new act, and as a result the Government is aiming to have regulation in effect by Spring 2027.
The ban has been labelled “Australia plus”, going further by also targeting gaming sites and AI chatbots
Restrictions in the UK would adopt the same model as Australia, where the first-of-its-kind ban on social media for children came into effect on 10 December 2025. Australia’s ban specifically targets user-to-user platforms that enable social interaction, allow users to post material and feature algorithms. In Australia, there is a list of criteria to determine whether a platform should be age-restricted, with exemptions for messaging services, gaming sites and educational or health-related platforms. Following the same approach, the UK’s ban would therefore encompass platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X. However, messaging services, including WhatsApp and Signal, would not be included in the ban. Additionally, the UK’s restrictions would go further than the Australian model by enforcing partial restrictions on gaming sites and AI ‘romantic companion’ chatbots for under-18s. Gaming sites would not face outright bans, but design features allowing under-16s to post livestreams, access disappearing messages and have communications with adult strangers online would be prohibited, with the UK being the first country to restrict these features specifically. The Government will also consider further restrictions such as overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under-18-year-olds, with details to follow in July when the full response to the consultation is published. These additional restrictions would mean that there would be three age brackets: under-16s who would be banned from social media; 16-18-year-olds who would face partial restrictions; and over-18-year-olds who would have full access. Tech companies may not deem it worth the cost of implementing restrictions for a two-year age bracket, and could decide to just ban all under-18s from their platforms instead.
Age-assurance methods must be “highly effective”
Age-verification methods have been a sticking point for many countries implementing age-based social media bans or restrictions. In Australia, many children have been able to bypass these measures and continue to access social media sites. The Government has acknowledged concerns regarding the efficacy of Australia’s ban, stating that it would “learn the lessons from Australia’s experience” and introduce “more highly effective age assurance (HEAA) measures” to make it harder for children to circumvent the ban. It is not yet clear, however, what these measures will entail. Ofcom will conduct a study on what constitutes effective age assurance for verifying whether someone is over 16, with an aim to publish this assessment by the end of October 2026.
