Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Monday that Britain will ban children under 16 from a range of social media platforms, calling it “a big moment for our country,” the Associated Press reported. The package goes further than Australia’s existing model, extending new restrictions to gaming apps, AI chatbots, and late-night platform access for under-18s. The announcement came in London on June 16, 2026, following a government consultation that closed in May.
Starmer told reporters he is “not prepared to compromise on the safety and happiness of our children,” according to the AP, and warned he would fight back if technology companies resisted the move. The ban covers the same ten platforms targeted by Australia — including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, X, Snapchat, Reddit, Facebook, Twitch, Threads, and Kick — but the British framework extends into territory the Australian law did not reach.
Under the plans, gaming apps will face new restrictions barring young users from communicating with strangers. Under-18s will also be prohibited from accessing romantic or sexual AI chatbot products. Late-night access to social media will be curtailed through an evening curfew applying to 16- and 17-year-olds, targeting the effects of night-time scrolling on sleep and mental health, the Guardian reported.
The approach has been described by officials and media as “Australia plus.” A government source cited by the Guardian was direct about the ambition: “There are no half measures here.”
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, speaking to Sky News on Sunday, declined to preview the formal announcement but confirmed the government’s direction. She said the consultation had shown the “vast majority” of respondents, including young people, supported the measures. “I don’t think banning social media on its own is the silver bullet solution,” she told the programme, “but I do think Australia has shown very clearly that it has a significant role to play.”
Nandy also pointed to the pressure children face well below the proposed age threshold, noting that the ban could protect children “as young as eight, nine, ten, eleven” who access platforms simply because their peers are on them, at an age when, in her view, they are “not really emotionally equipped to be able to cope with it.”
The consultation that preceded Monday’s announcement ran from March 2 to May 26, 2026, under the title “Growing Up in the Online World.” The government said nine out of ten parents who responded backed a minimum age of 16 for accessing major apps. Nearly two-thirds of young people who participated said limiting high-risk features would make them safer online, according to IBTimes UK.
Part 3 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 already requires the government to impose some form of age or functionality restrictions for under-16s, the House of Commons Library confirmed. Monday’s announcement sets out what those restrictions will look like in practice.
Not all responses have been positive. Ian Russell, whose 14-year-old daughter Molly died in 2017 after viewing harmful content online and who has since campaigned on child internet safety, accused Starmer of “gambling with young people’s lives” and “playing politics” by rushing the announcement. Russell called the prime minister’s conduct “deplorable,” arguing the move prioritised political optics over considered policy, IBTimes UK reported.
Critics have also raised questions about enforceability. According to the Molly Rose Foundation, 61 percent of under-16s in Australia still had access to social media following the introduction of that country’s ban in December 2025, as the BBC reported, raising concerns about whether a British equivalent would achieve meaningfully different results. Some commentators have further warned that a blanket ban could leave young people without the skills to navigate social media responsibly once they reach the eligible age.
Regional and Global Impact
Britain’s announcement places it at the front of a growing international movement. Australia became the first country to enforce a nationwide under-16 social media ban when its Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act took effect on December 10, 2025, with tech firms facing fines of up to AU$49.5 million (approximately £26 million) for failing to remove underage accounts. France is close to passing a law that would ban social media use by under-15s, Reuters reported. Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Canada, Brazil, and Indonesia have also introduced legislation or announced age-based restrictions, according to the AP.
Britain’s existing 2023 Online Safety Act is already among the world’s strictest regulatory frameworks, and enforcement of its age-verification rules has increased the share of children encountering age checks online to 47 percent from 30 percent, and cut visits to pornography sites by a third, the government said, as reported by Reuters.
The new measures will also close a legal loophole in the 2023 act. As Technology Minister Liz Kendall previously told Times Radio, the existing law does not cover one-to-one interactions with AI chatbots unless those interactions are shared with other users. “I am concerned about these AI chatbots… as is the prime minister, about the impact that’s having on children and young people,” Kendall said, adding that some children were forming one-to-one relationships with AI systems that were not designed with child safety in mind.
The restrictions will be introduced as amendments to existing crime and child-protection legislation currently before parliament, according to Reuters.
Background
Australia became the first country to ban social media access for under-16s when its law took effect in December 2025, covering ten major platforms. Britain’s 2023 Online Safety Act — one of the world’s strictest digital safety regimes — took nearly eight years to pass and come into force, according to Reuters. In January 2026, the British government announced a public consultation on children’s social media use. The consultation ran from March 2 to May 26, 2026. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 already mandates some form of age or functionality restrictions for under-16s, the House of Commons Library confirmed. Both the governing Labour Party and the opposition Conservative Party have backed an under-16 social media ban, the AP reported.
What Happens Next
The measures will be introduced as amendments to existing crime and child-protection legislation currently before parliament, Reuters reported. Technology companies will bear responsibility for ensuring their systems comply with British law, Kendall told British media. The government also plans to consult on automatic data-preservation orders when a child dies online, to secure key digital evidence — a measure long sought by bereaved families. A Westminster Hall debate on tackling related issues has been scheduled for June 17, 2026. Enforcement timelines and the specific definition of which platforms fall under the ban have not yet been published by the government.
