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Starmer announces social media ban for under
BBC • • general
Key Points:
- The UK government plans to ban under-16s from accessing major social media platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and X starting in spring 2027, with regulations expected to pass before Christmas.
- Age verification measures will be introduced for users over 16, while messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal, online gaming platforms like Roblox, and YouTube Kids will be exempt from the ban.
- The ban aims to enhance child safety online by restricting features such as livestreaming and contact from strangers for under-16s, and will also prohibit intimate and sexual AI chats for under-18s.
- Tech companies have expressed concerns that a blanket ban may push children toward less regulated and potentially more dangerous online environments, while campaigners and some bereaved parents have welcomed the move as a significant step to protect children.
- Children's commissioners in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland criticized the ban as overly simplistic or ineffective, whereas England's commissioner supported it and advocated extending the ban to all under-18s.
