On 15 June 2026, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, announced a UK-wide ban on social media platforms for children under 16.[1] This announcement came following the publication of the Department of Science, Innovation & Technology’s (DSIT) progress statement[2] (the “Progress Statement”) to its March consultation, “Growing up in the online world: a national consultation” (the “Consultation”), which sought to understand the risks and benefits of the online environment for children and the potential measures to counter the online harms caused.[3]
The Progress Statement Key Takeaways
The Consultation received over 116,000 responses, including from 54,000 parents and 14,000 children. Finding that 90% of parents supported a ban on social media for under-16s. Alongside this, DSIT announced it will:
- Prevent under-16s from accessing harmful functions on online services, including gaming services, such as creating livestreams or communicating with unknown users;
- Require default restrictions on harmful functions such as livestreaming and stranger communication, for 16- and 17-year-olds;
- Enforce these requirements through rigorous age verification;
- Prohibit under-18s from accessing AI chatbot services primarily offering sexualised content, and prevent general AI chatbot services from offering children sexually explicit or sexual role-playing features; and
- Give children access to educational and positive content and experiences, both online and offline, including through the Newspapers for Schools News Library and the DCMS Local Media Action Plan.
In implementing the ban, DSIT aims to use the same model as Australia, and has adopted the same criteria for defining “social media services”.[4] This captures user to-user platforms, whose purpose is to enable social interaction, which allow users to post material alongside algorithms, and will include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X, YouTube, Kick and Reddit. Whilst Roblox and WhatsApp have been identified by Ofcom as amongst the most used services by children in the UK, they have not yet been included.[5] The Progress Statement also confirms that a narrowly defined list of exemptions will apply, covering services such as educational platforms, e-commerce services, and music streaming services.
Whilst the Online Safety Act 2023 (the “OSA”) requires services to implement age checks and algorithmic safeguards, recent Ofcom evidence indicates that children remain exposed to harmful content and that major platforms have failed to commit to the necessary scale of change; Ofcom has nonetheless launched over 100 investigations and issued in excess of £4 million in fines under its existing enforcement powers.[6]
The Government’s Next Steps
On 8 June, the Prime Minister announced that companies will be required to implement stronger safety protections on children’s devices, including technology to detect and block nude images before they are shared or viewed, with legislation to follow if meaningful steps are not taken within three months.[7]
DSIT intends to publish a further statement by 16 July 2026, which will consider additional restrictions including but not limited to: (i) Further protections for 16- to 17-year-olds such as overnight restrictions and limits to design features like infinite scrolling; (ii) Raising the age of digital consent; (iii) Risks of circumvention through use of VPNs; and (iv) Proposals for initiatives supporting parental media literacy.
DSIT intends to lay before Parliament the first regulations imposing service-level age restrictions on social media services by the end of 2026. A further set of regulations is intended to follow within 12 months of that date, subject to the affirmative procedure under s.225(1)(ea) OSA, and the approval of Parliament and the Secretary of State. The first restrictions are expected to take effect by spring 2027.
The Department for Education will update the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum from September 2026 to include critical thinking about new technologies, including artificial intelligence and AI chatbots, and to strengthen pupils’ media literacy by supporting the identification of misinformation and disinformation. A revised curriculum will follow from 2027, with teaching commencing in September 2028.
Lastly, the Department of Health and Social Care’s call for evidence on the use of AI in mental health care will close on 10 July 2026. This will inform the government mental health strategy due later this year, which sets out plans to support access to safe and high-quality digital tools.
Conclusions:
Whilst the social media ban is a welcome step forward to holding social media platforms accountable, broader enforcement and implementation questions remain unresolved. The extraterritorial application of UK regulations to global platforms will continue to test jurisdictional reach, and as acknowledge in the Progress Statement, there is a real risk of circumvention through VPNs, which statute alone cannot easily address. Businesses should monitor the upcoming DSIT statement in July, which will hopefully address some of these issues before draft regulations are laid before Parliament later this year.
Please contact Tim Cowen if you have any questions on the above.
Preiskel & Co advises on competition law, abuse of dominance and regulatory matters affecting digital markets.
The material in this article is only for general review of the topics covered and does not constitute legal advice. No legal or business decision should be based on its content. This article is written in the English language. Preiskel & Co LLP is not responsible for any translation of all or part of its content into any language.
[1] Britain announces sweeping social media ban for under-16s | Reuters (15 June 2026); Social media to be banned for under-16s in landmark government move to give kids their childhood back – GOV.UK (15 June 2026).
[2] Growing up in the online world: progress statement (15 June 2026)
[3] Growing up in the online world: a national consultation – GOV.UK; Growing up in the online world: a national conversation – GOV.UK (2 March 2026)
[4] Three months into Australia’s world-first social media ban for under-16s, has it been a success? | Social media ban | The Guardian (4 March 2026)
[5] Children’s Online Experiences: Including a comparative analysis of the periods before and after the children’s safety duties came into force – Ofcom (21 May 2026); Update: tech firms’ responses to our call for action to protect children – Ofcom (21 March 2026);
[6] Ofcom sets out fines issued under the Online Safety Act on their website: Illegal and harmful content;
[7] New plans to stop children taking, sharing or viewing nude images – GOV.UK (8 June 2026)