The UK’s proposed social media ban defined
The UK authorities is contemplating whether or not to ban under-16s from accessing social media, alongside a sequence of different measures meant to guard younger folks’s well-being.
This contains proposals to limit addictive design options corresponding to infinite scrolling and restrict kids’s entry to digital personal networks (VPNs), in addition to preserving digital proof following a baby’s demise.
The session will even deal with how tech firms can limit units in order that suspected baby sexual abuse materials (CSAM) can’t be despatched or obtained within the first place.
Whereas the measures are being thought-about as a part of a proper authorities session on kids’s digital well-being, UK prime minister Keir Starmer has already introduced that the federal government will change the On-line Security Act (OSA) to make sure synthetic intelligence (AI) chatbot builders are required to guard customers, after Elon Musk’s Grok platform was used to generate thousands and thousands of non-consensual intimate photographs.
In the identical announcement, Starmer additionally promised to introduce new authorized powers in order that speedy motion on on-line security could be taken off the again of the session course of.
“The federal government is dedicated to following the proof, and these powers will imply we are able to act quick on [the consultation] findings inside months, somewhat than ready years for brand spanking new major laws each time expertise evolves,” mentioned a authorities press launch.
Whereas the UK’s OSA – which was initially proposed in April 2019 however solely went into full impact in March 2025 – is likely one of the world’s strictest on-line security regimes, campaigners have lengthy warned the legal guidelines are inadequate, enabling tech companies to proceed working with impunity.
In January 2026, X’s Grok AI software got here underneath fireplace for mass-producing nudified content material of girls and women with out their consent. In response to researchers, Grok AI generated about three million sexualised photographs in lower than two weeks, together with 23,000 that seem to depict kids.
Nonetheless, on-line harms regulator Ofcom revealed it was not investigating the app as a result of chatbot actions that work together with just one particular person aren’t inside the scope of the On-line Security Act, a niche expertise minister Liz Kendall says can be closed underneath the brand new powers.
Whereas closing the loophole round AI chatbots has largely been welcomed, different proposals set to be thought-about within the session are much less well-liked.
For instance, in a joint assertion from 42 UK baby safety charities – together with the Nationwide Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Kids, the Molly Rose Basis and 5Rights Basis – they cautioned that, although well-intentioned, a blanket social media ban will fail to ship the advance in kids’s security and well-being that’s urgently wanted.
“They’re a blunt response that fails to deal with the successive shortcomings of tech firms and governments to behave decisively and sooner,” they mentioned.
The Australian instance
In December 2025, Australia turned the primary nation on this planet to institute a social media ban for under-16s. Spain and France have promised related bans within the subsequent yr, whereas Portugal has authorised a invoice promising specific parental consent for kids aged 13 to 16 to entry social media.
The Australian experiment is the strictest and has centered on choose platforms, together with Fb, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, which face fines of as much as A$49.5m (£25m) in the event that they fail to conform.
The businesses are required to search out methods to shut present accounts for under-16s and stop new ones from being created. As of late January, the Australian authorities mentioned social media firms have already revoked entry to roughly 4.7 million accounts recognized as belonging to kids, and added that every one 10 tech firms have been compliant.
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel warned this leaves 1000’s of different apps unregulated, noting that the federal government’s personal trial discovered that age estimation expertise was extremely imperfect and infrequently off by two to a few years, significantly when utilized to youthful customers.
He’s advocating for age verification by app shops somewhat than by particular person apps to minimise gaps in protection and guarantee uniform implementation of coverage. Spiegel mentioned this would cut back privateness dangers by limiting how usually private data should be shared.
Nonetheless, the Australian ban has already confronted opposition, with greater than 140 nationwide and worldwide lecturers signing an open letter to the prime minister opposing it. Two 15-year-olds have additionally sued the Australian authorities over the ban, arguing it would deny younger Australians a proper to freedom of political communication.
Ian Russell, chair of the Molly Rose Basis, a UK-based suicide prevention charity for younger folks, cautioned in opposition to outright bans. “They danger unintended penalties that would depart kids at higher danger of hurt by treating the signs, not the issue,” he mentioned.
“They let social media platforms off the hook by weakening the requirement for them to supply protected and high-quality experiences as a precondition for working within the UK.”
Kerry Smith, CEO of the Web Watch Basis, added that the ban could be inadequate in tackling the manufacturing and distribution of kid sexual abuse materials.
“We have to see firms undertake wholesale the precept of safety-by-design, which embeds safeguards into the event of recent applied sciences corresponding to AI instruments,” she mentioned.
Chris Sherwood, CEO of the Nationwide Society for the Prevention of Kids, mentioned: “A lot of what’s being proposed mirrors what now we have been urgent for: correct age-limit enforcement, an finish to addictive design, and stronger motion from platforms, units and AI instruments to cease dangerous content material on the supply.”
Nonetheless, he famous that “delivered swiftly, these measures would supply much better safety than a blanket ban”.
Sherwood additionally highlighted that social media isn’t a luxurious for a lot of kids: it’s a lifeline, a supply of id, group and important help. He fears a ban would take these areas away in a single day, probably driving youngsters into darker, unregulated corners of the web.
“We additionally strongly help placing kids’s voices on the centre of this debate,” mentioned Sherwood. “They perceive each the advantages and dangers of being on-line, and – after their insights have been neglected in discussions to date, their experiences should now assist information the selections made within the months forward.”
Russell, who has campaigned for higher on-line protections for kids since his 14-year-old daughter died of suicide in 2017, mentioned banning social media could be mistaken, and that bereaved households are “horrified” on the manner politicians have capitalised on the problem.
The UK authorities can be set to introduce Jools’ Legislation, which would require social media firms to mechanically protect kids’s information after they die.
Age verification on VPNs
There’s concern that, as with the OSA, essentially the most vital problem for finishing up the social media ban could be enforcement.
Whereas the OSA’s age verification measures went dwell in late July 2025, requiring platforms to confirm customers’ ages to entry sure content material or websites, the broadly accessible and simple-to-use nature of VPNs – which allow customers to primarily masks their IP addresses and areas – means they can be utilized to simply circumvent blocks on explicit web sites or content material.
Jamie Hurthworth, a dispute decision lawyer and On-line Security Act professional, informed Pc Weekly: “Till the federal government addresses VPN regulation head-on, sure offences within the On-line Security Act could be sidestepped with relative ease.”
He additionally famous that VPNs can obscure the place on-line content material originates from.
“Accountability should prolong throughout all the digital ecosystem – from platforms that design and deploy these programs, to regulators tasked with enforcement, and to intermediaries that allow anonymity – or we danger making a framework that appears sturdy on paper however proves porous in follow, leaving kids uncovered and enforcement powerless,” mentioned Hurthworth.
Though the session is about to contemplate age restrictions on VPNs, limiting kids’s potential to sidestep the present age verification processes in place for a lot of websites, the proposal has raised plenty of considerations.
Maya Thomas, a authorized and coverage officer at UK-based civil liberties group Large Brother Watch, mentioned proscribing VPN use for kids “represents a draconian crackdown on the civil liberties of youngsters and adults alike”.
Thomas added that it will result in VPNs introducing age checks for all customers, not simply kids. With thousands and thousands counting on VPNs for safety and private privateness, an age verification verify “completely defeats the purpose” of utilizing privateness instruments within the first place.
“For victims of home abuse or management, VPNs are top-of-the-line methods to securely entry on-line assist, and numerous instructional establishments and workplaces use VPNs for distant working and file-sharing,” she mentioned, including that the flexibility to obtain and share data, with out state snooping, is a crucial a part of residing in a free democracy.
Gytis Malinauskas, head of authorized at VPN supplier Surfshark, famous that they already prohibit customers underneath 18 from utilizing their providers, and that the requirement for a paid subscription with a legitimate cost technique serves as an extra safeguard in opposition to underage use.
Structural energy of massive tech
Except for these considerations, digital rights teams have warned that the age verification course of will give already-unregulated huge tech firms entry to massive swathes of delicate information.
James Baker on the Open Rights Group (ORG) mentioned: “The federal government is enjoying whack-a-mole with on-line security, specializing in particular person harms and product options as a substitute of confronting the structural energy of dominant tech firms.
“Going by means of an age verification course of usually entails sending irreversible biometric identifiers into world business information ecosystems,” he mentioned. “There are already examples of platforms utilizing the extra information gained from these processes to focus on folks with dangerous internet advertising.
“Persons are anxious and indignant about having at hand over biometric scans of their face to abroad firms simply to entry on-line platforms,” added Baker. “It is a explicit concern when kids’s faces are being scanned, too.”
In October 2025, Discord revealed that as much as 70,000 customers could have had their government-issued IDs uncovered in a third-party information breach.
The ORG have additionally highlighted that there’s presently no registrar of authorised suppliers, no requirement for suppliers to satisfy any privateness or safety requirements and no requirement for platforms to decide on trusted or licensed suppliers. They in contrast this with different high-risk industries, corresponding to card funds, the place sturdy and obligatory requirements have been developed.
The OSA presently locations no limits on age verification suppliers from distributing, profiling or monetising the private information of UK residents going by means of verification. Nonetheless, Ofcom could refer suppliers to the information regulator if an age verification firm is believed to not have complied with information safety legislation.
Jim Killock, the ORG’s govt director, famous that many huge tech firms have chosen suppliers which are based mostly exterior the UK, leaving customers uncovered to unacceptable dangers corresponding to phishing, impersonation and reuse of information.
He additionally famous that the OSA applies to a variety of providers from social media websites corresponding to Bluesky and Reddit, in addition to Grindr, a location-based social networking and on-line relationship software for homosexual, bisexual, queer and transgender folks.
For instance, Roblox, Reddit and Discord customers have to submit facial scans to the age verification supplier Persona, an organization that Peter Thiel, co-founder of surveillance and information analytics firm Palantir, has closely invested in.
Palantir is controversial due to its observe file of working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Israeli navy and the US Division of Defence. In Might 2025, former workers signed an open letter accusing the corporate of authoritarianism for its massive contracts with US president Donald Trump, enabling deportations by means of its applications, which observe migrants in actual time.
Andrew Breeze, director for on-line security expertise coverage at Ofcom, informed MPs in a Joint Committee Listening to on Human Rights on 4 February that age assurance represented a trade-off for regulators between baby safety and making certain a excessive diploma of on-line privateness.
He additionally careworn that on the web, “there is no such thing as a impregnable defence you could create in opposition to a decided particular person, grownup or baby”.
Politically, there have additionally been considerations that the OSA is censoring political content material within the identify of defending kids, with stories of Palestine-related content material being positioned behind age verification partitions on X and Reddit.
