UK to ban under-16s from social media: what’s included, when, and the open questions

What was announced

On June 15, 2026, the UK government announced plans to ban children under 16 from using major social media platforms. The government says it will follow the same broad model as Australia, which introduced its own under-16 ban in December 2025, but go further by also restricting functions such as livestreaming and contact from strangers for under-16s. According to the government, the first regulations are due to be brought to Parliament before the end of 2026, with protections expected to come into force in spring 2027.

The platforms expected to fall within scope mirror Australia’s list — services such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook and X. The government has said messaging services are not intended to be included, and that educational platforms are expected to be exempt.

How it would be enforced

Enforcement rests on age assurance — verifying that a user is over the relevant age. The government has said some adults who already completed age checks under the existing Online Safety Act would not need to repeat them, and that for others a check could be as simple as facial age estimation. Ofcom, the online safety regulator, has been asked to set out workable age-assurance methods, with that work due by October 2026.

The legal foundation comes from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, which amended the Online Safety Act 2023 to let the government require services to restrict access for children under a specified age.

The support and the criticism

The government points to strong public backing, saying around nine in ten parents support a ban and that the announcement followed a consultation with more than 116,000 responses. Prime Minister Keir Starmer framed the move as protecting children from platforms designed to be addictive.

Critics are not convinced the approach will work as intended. Digital rights groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Big Brother Watch and the Open Rights Group argue that mandatory age checks push every user toward identity verification, raising privacy and free-expression concerns, and that determined teenagers will turn to VPNs or borrowed accounts. After the Online Safety Act’s age checks took effect in July 2025, Ofcom itself reported an initial spike in VPN use. Some experts and child-safety advocates also argue a blanket ban lets platforms off the hook for the underlying design choices — algorithmic amplification and attention-based business models — that drive harm.

Why it matters

The UK is one of several jurisdictions — alongside Australia and a number of US states — moving toward age-based social media restrictions, which makes its approach a potential template that other governments and platforms watch closely. Much of the real-world effect will depend on secondary legislation and Ofcom’s implementation work, which were not finalised at the time of writing.

Compiled from reporting and primary sources as of June 30, 2026; this is a developing policy story and details may change. This article is general information, not legal advice.

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Sources

• GOV.UK — Social media to be banned for under-16s (announcement) — https://www.gov.uk/government/news/social-media-to-be-banned-for-under-16s-in-landmark-government-move-to-givekids-their-childhood-back
• House of Commons Library — Proposals to ban social media for children — https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10468/
• TIME — U.K. to ban under-16s from social media: what apps are included and when — https://time.com/article/2026/06/16/uk-social-media-ban-under16-children-australia-framework/
• Electronic Frontier Foundation — The UK’s new under-16 social media ban will cause more harm than it prevents — https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/uks-new-under-16-social-media-ban-will-cause-more-harm-it-prevents