British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a ban on under-16s using social media on Monday, June 15th.
The official rationale for the ban is child protection, reportedly backed by most parents. Or as Starmer argued,
That is all any parent wants. They want to know that Britain will be better for their children, that they will get a fair chance.
In what the PM called “a big moment for our country,” the legislation promises to go further than that enacted in Australia last year. Mission-creep-prone media regulator Ofcom says it is prepared to enforce the new rules, adding ominously, “the industry needs to go much further to make people safe.”
While online child protection is in itself unobjectionable, many are unhappy with the legislation. Some see parental autonomy being undermined amid a moral panic. They also warn of increased regulation for adults off the back of the proposed legislation.
Others—such as Ellen Roome, whose 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died in April 2022 in an incident linked to social media—told the BBC that Starmer had made “a very good speech,” but warned that “the devil is in the detail.” Such representatives of bereaved families argue that the legislation should be designed instead to tackle big tech companies more directly.
Among the platforms affected, the government has named Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X—but not WhatsApp, Signal, and the left-wing echo chamber Bluesky.
If the UK parliament passes the legislation, the ban will come into force by the spring of 2027.
