The UK government has announced that social media platforms will be blocked from offering services to British children under the age of 16, in a move it says will improve online safety and “give kids their childhood back”, according to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. The ban is set to include platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, but not messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal. The government plans to use the same model for a social media ban as Australia, which introduced the policy last December.
However, the UK will be going further than the Australian ban on social media, with blocks to other functions it claims are “harmful” such as livestreaming, as well as restricting certain functions of AI chatbots for under-18s. The Prime Minister has said he hopes the legislation will be passed by Christmas, with a ban coming into effect in the spring of next year.
While many welcome the announcement, with the UK government claiming that up to 90% of British parents support the policy, evidence that bans and other social media restrictions are effective, and improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people, remains limited.
Here, three of the University’s top researchers working on the relationships between digital technology, society and mental health, Amy Orben, Sander van der Linden, and Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, respond to the latest announcement.
Full ArticleSource: Cambridge Research News.
Posted on 17/06/2026
