The United Kingdom has announced a sweeping ban on social media for anyone under the age of 16, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Monday. The measure targets major platforms including TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and X.
According to Reuters, the ban will also impose restrictions on gaming and livestreaming platforms, with Starmer aiming to have regulation in place by the end of 2026. According to the BBC, the blocks on apps like TikTok and Snapchat are expected to take effect for UK teens in early 2027.
Beyond the age restriction itself, the rules would require platforms to actively prevent children from livestreaming. According to The Verge, the wider package of measures would also stop children from communicating with strangers online. Wired reports that the government is additionally introducing a minimum age requirement for access to some chatbots.
Starmer framed the move as an effort to, in CNBC's words, "give kids their childhood back." The UK becomes the latest country to follow Australia, which enacted a similar under-16 ban and has become a reference point for governments worldwide weighing how aggressively to regulate children's access to social platforms.
The announcement matters because it signals that age-gating social media — once considered legally and technically unworkable — is fast becoming mainstream government policy in major democracies, putting pressure on Silicon Valley platforms to build and enforce age-verification systems at a scale they have so far resisted.