UK Government Plans Social Media Curfews for Teenagers Under New Online Safety Rules

The UK government has recently announced that it will ban social media for children under 16. At the time, the Prime Minister of the UK said that this would help give children their “childhoods back”. The decision came after multiple countries, including Australia, prohibited social media for underage users. As part of the announcement, the British government had also revealed that it plans to regulate the use of social media for users under the age of 18. Now, the government has revealed more details on how it plans to regulate the same. It has proposed the enforcement of nighttime curfews for children aged 16 and 17 years, which will be turned on by default on social media platforms.

The UK Government's Social Media Regulations for 16 and 17-Year-Olds

In a press release on Wednesday, the UK government's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology announced that it plans to bring two new guardrails to regulate social media for children under the age of 18. First, the government will introduce a nighttime social media curfew for 16 and 17-year-olds, which will be turned on by default. The curfew will begin at midnight and last till 6 am local time.

Apart from this, as part of the new regulations, the government plans to switch off features on social media apps that can “keep users scrolling for longer”, including videos that can automatically play one after another, along with personalised feeds that curate content for older teenagers. Similar to the nighttime social media curfew, these features will also be turned off by default.

The UK government's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology claims that these actions “back parents and protect the next generation online”. Further, it said, “The new protections strike a balance between giving older teenagers greater safeguards online while still allowing them to change their own settings if they wish.”

Interestingly, these regulations will not be limited to social media use. The department has also revealed its plans to control how children interact with AI chatbots. The UK's Technology Secretary Liz Kendall “intends” to enforce regular breaks for children under the age of 18 from using AI chatbots and work with regulators to address services that offer “dangerous, misleading, or unverified mental health advice”. One of the options mentioned was a ban on AI chatbots that pose risks to children.

This comes a month after the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a social media ban for children under 16. The ban will come into force in the spring next year. As part of the legislation, the government will completely ban social media platforms, including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and the microblogging platform X, for children. However, instant messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal remain accessible. At the time, he cited mental health concerns, addiction, and bullying as a few of the reasons behind the decision.