The United Kingdom is considering banning social media for children under 16 and raising the digital age of consent to stop companies using children’s data without their or their parents’ consent.
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Liz Kendall, made the disclosure on Tuesday in her speech at the House of Commons in London.
Kendall confirmed the government was “looking closely at the experience in Australia,” which implemented a landmark ban on social media for under 16s in December 2025.
The action prevents them from creating or maintaining accounts on platforms like Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Threads), TikTok, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, Snapchat, and Twitch.
It was taken to protect youth mental health and safety from harmful online environments. Platforms liable for non-compliance with age verification and access control face fines up to $32 million.
With plans to enact a similar policy, the UK is set to consult parents, experts, organisations representing children and bereaved families, technology companies, children, and young adults.
The consultation will debate overnight curfews, excessive use or doom scrolling, rigorous enforcement of existing laws around age verification, and the use of VPNs to bypass protections.
“We will also be developing evidence-based screen time guidance for parents of children aged 5 to 16,” the Secretary told the lower house of the parliament.
Kendall expressed the authorities’ preparedness to address the concerns parents, teachers, doctors and others have about children’s screen time use in schools and at home.
Last week, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announced the development of screen time guidance for children under 5, which will be available from April 2026.
The UK, meanwhile, has published updated guidance on the use of mobile phones in schools. The regulator, Ofsted, has been directed to monitor the rule during inspections.
The government has also made intimate image abuse and cyberflashing priority offences, and criminalised the use of AI models to create child sexual abuse material.
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