UK Considers Social Media Ban and Stronger Age Assurance for Children
The UK government said it is considering restricting or banning social media access for children, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer stating that “no option is off the table.” Reported options include improving age assurance technology, raising the digital age of consent, imposing phone curfews, and limiting platform design practices associated with compulsive use (including “infinite scrolling”), alongside publishing evidence-based screen-time guidance for parents and tightening school enforcement around phone use.
In Parliament, momentum is being driven in part by a proposed amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that would require regulated user-to-user services to deploy “highly-effective” age assurance measures to prevent under-16s from becoming users, and would also task the UK’s chief medical officers with publishing age-based advice on children’s social media use. UK officials also indicated they plan to engage with Australia to learn from its under-16 social media restrictions, which Australian authorities said led to millions of account deactivations shortly after implementation.
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