UK Government to ban under 16’s from social media

The UK Government has announced a proposed ban on social media for under-16s, alongside stricter feature restrictions, to address growing concerns about online safety and mental health.

15 June 2026

In response to mounting concern surrounding social media’s potential impact on children’s mental health and development, the UK Prime Minister has today announced a full social media ban for under 16’s, alongside other age-related restrictions, including preventing under 16’s from livestreaming and accessing features which allow them to communicate with strangers and applying an 18 plus age limit to romantic chatbots.

The background to the ban

The measures announced today form part of the Government’s broader work on children’s online safety and are intended to build on the Online Safety Act 2023, which was simply intended to regulate illegal and harmful content.

 A full ban on children’s social media access was one of several options considered by the Government; the consultation that preceded the announcement  also considered less stringent measures such as restricting access to services based on features and functionalities (e.g. livestreaming and location sharing) and age restricting specific features which present potential addiction concerns and/or encourage children to stay online for longer (e.g. infinite scrolling, autoplay and affirmation features (e.g. likes and comments).

In describing a full ban as the “right choice” the Prime Minister referenced concerns including the potential for social media to facilitate bullying and harassment and adversely affect children’s mental health.

The scope and detail of the ban

The detail of the ban will be set out in the enacting legislation, which the Government hopes to pass before Christmas, with the proposed ban coming into force in the early part of 2027. It seems likely that the proposed legislation will be influenced by developments in Australia, which banned social media for under 16’s on 10 December 2025, and therefore has 6 months of experience which could inform the UK approach. Under the Australian regime, platforms, not parents, bear the burden of preventing access by under 16s. Failure to comply may result in fines up to AUD 49.5 million, and platforms are trialling intrusive age verification technologies involving biometrics, behaviour analysis, and identity document scanning.

The broader picture

The Government’s announcement reflects mounting concerns over children’s online safety which has resulted in:

• Bereaved UK parents having launched proceedings before the Superior Court of the State of Delaware, in which they assert that their children died as a result of accessing dangerous content, including content relating to the “Blackout Challenge”.  
• The majority of US cases, which share common issues, being grouped within the US Social Media Addiction MDL (multi-district litigation) which, as of June 2026, included 2,664 claims. These claims broadly allege that defendant social media companies design their platforms to capitalise on teen psychology by including reward-driven features designed to trigger dopamine production and keep teens online for longer.  
• Ongoing US litigation targeting the big social media companies. Early decisions to date have seen Meta and YouTube found liable in respect of breaches New Mexico’s Unfair Practice Act and injury sustained by a young woman who accessed platforms as a child and developed significant mental illness. As discussed more fully here (Navigating the first-instance Judgments in Social Media Addiction Litigation : Clyde & Co). These decisions form part of a complex legal landscape and should not be considered definitive.
• A global trend towards stricter regulation of minors’ access to social media, which has already seen age-related restrictions introduced in Australia, China, Vietnam, Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia, with other jurisdictions including France, Spain, Greece, Denmark, Portugal and Canada either considering, or in the process of legislating for similar measures.

Impact on insurers

Insurers and reinsurers are already alive to the emerging social media liability landscape and the impact it can have across business lines from general liability, product liability, cyber and D&O. The scrutiny on social media companies will likely expand to other sectors where children and their data become vulnerable, for instance in e-gaming and use of AI chatbots. When the details of the proposed legislation are known, insurers will need to consider any potential impact on current products, to assess whether the legislation changes the risk landscape, and to ultimately consider whether they need to review their wordings in advance of the proposed ban entering into law.

Fact sheet: New rules to protect children online - GOV.UK