What Does The Social Media Ban Mean for the UK?

[00:00:00]Because today, I can announce that the government will ban access to social media for all children under the age of 16.

[00:00:12]>> Welcome to WatchMojo UK, and today we're taking a deep dive into the UK's looming ban on social media for under 16s.

[00:00:21]>> For this, the government had a consultation and found that nearly nine in 10 of the adults they spoke to, the parents, were in favor of a ban.

[00:00:30]>> On the 15th of June, 2026, Keir Starmer announced something that had long been rumored. The UK was going ahead with a blanket social media ban for kids under 16, targeting platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, X, and even YouTube, the place where you're watching this video right now.

[00:00:51]>> The government has said it would cover those whose purpose is to enable social interaction, and which allow users to post material.

[00:00:59]>> Excluded from the ban so far are messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp, as well as gaming platforms, seemingly including Roblox, while streaming sites >> [music] >> have different incoming rules.

[00:01:11]Ostensibly, this is all to protect children, and a ban has enjoyed widespread bipartisan appeal, particularly with the current generation of parents.

[00:01:22]>> I think, to be honest, it's probably a good thing, cuz there's like content online that under 16s probably shouldn't be seeing.

[00:01:28]>> Under 16s themselves, however, are less than thrilled, according to reporting from the BBC. A wide poll on children wasn't conducted, but journalists did visit schools and directly ask kids what they think, and they weren't happy.

[00:01:44]>> Well, Keir Starmer said this morning that it would be the regulation would be in place by Christmas, excuse me, [clears throat] and that the actual ban will take effect in spring.

[00:01:51]>> The UK's social media ban, which is expected to be implemented by early 2027, is one of the strictest in the world, but not the first. In December 2025, Australia enacted its landmark social media ban, the first of its kind, which has turned into a damp squib like people predicted. The BBC spoke to Australian school kids about how that ban had gone, and the resounding results was that kids were still using social media the same as ever.

[00:02:21]>> I know of three girls out of my entire year group, which is 180, [music] that have been impacted.

[00:02:26]>> But listening to them, it actually sounds like the fears about kids using VPNs and other complex circumvention tactics haven't come to fruition.

[00:02:35]>> A lot. If you were to ask [music] any Australian teenager whether it's working, um it would probably be a resounding no.

[00:02:41]>> These children allege that the social media sites have actually barely implemented age verification, instead relying on tick boxes in terms of service updates. The UK's ban is set to be even more wide-reaching than Australia's, including YouTube in its sights.

[00:02:58]>> And if you're under 18, you could see overnight curfews on social media to stop infinite scrolling.

[00:03:05]>> This is an extension of the mid-2025 Online Safety Act, which made it mandatory for adult content platforms to verify users' age. In the aftermath of this change, VPN use in the UK spiked.

[00:03:19]>> I don't know. I feel like they'll find a way probably to get around the ban. Like, that's usually what happens, but >> VPNs, or virtual private networks, are services, usually paid for with a monthly subscription, that allow users to choose to route their web traffic through a server in a different country, bypassing all kinds of restrictions.

[00:03:40]They rose to prominence in the 2010s as a way to get around region-locked streaming services, and are now being widely used to bypass age checks online.

[00:03:50]>> From those platforms, do any of them surprise you that are on the list?

[00:03:53]>> Probably YouTube, yeah.

[00:03:54]>> I feel like that's There's some kid programs on YouTube that'd be okay.

[00:03:57]>> The existence of VPNs and the flimsy age checks have led to many saying that banning kids from social media just won't work. Starmer in his announcements had a rebuttal for this saying that just because a regulation can be avoided doesn't mean the regulation shouldn't exist, giving the example of children illegally buying or being given alcohol.

[00:04:19]>> But I'm not prepared to say that because some children may try to get around it and some may get around it. That is not a good reason to take the act of banning.

[00:04:28]>> Other activist groups, including the parent-led organization Smartphone Free Childhood, have praised the government's latest regulations as empowering parents to say no to the children asking for smartphones.

[00:04:41]>> Um what we do think is that smartphones and social media have fundamentally reshaped childhood over the last decade.

[00:04:47]>> They argue that the legislation sends a clear message to parents that social media is harmful, encouraging a collective response from parents that will lessen the effects of FOMO. That's fear of missing out and peer pressure on offline kids.

[00:05:03]>> We've got, you know, a a 13-year-old saying, "Oh, Mom, I I want a mobile because all my friends have got one and I won't be able to socialize if I don't get one." And we've just given it to them.

[00:05:13]>> But not all adults have welcomed the ban. The British public remains extremely concerned about digital ID, which the Labour Party has been trying to implement for decades.

[00:05:25]>> It's turned into an assault on civil liberties, campaigners say. The Prime Minister, they argue, enforcing a big brother state on an entire nation.

[00:05:33]>> A passion project of Tony Blair, national ID cards were temporarily implemented in the 2000s only to be revoked by the coalition. With Labour now back in power, Tony Blair is using his think tank, the Tony Blair Institute, to wield power and has revived the malign mandatory ID scheme.

[00:05:55]It's since been watered down following fierce opposition from all other political parties across the spectrum.

[00:06:02]>> This government will make a new free of charge digital ID mandatory for the right to work by the end of this Parliament.

[00:06:11]>> In fact, digital ID is one of the few issues that the public and most politicians are almost unanimously against with the exception of labor frontbenchers. Concerns about digital ID stretch to concerns about mandatory age verification with age verification viewed as a way of forcing people into having ID cards because they'll need to present them in order to exist online.

[00:06:37]>> Digital IDs could be in use by 2029, a year which not everyone in his party is convinced Sir Keir will still be the prime minister by.

[00:06:46]>> And that's all without getting into the other privacy concerns critics have raised. Mere months after age verification was rolled out on Discord and the platform was hit with a cyberattack that may have led to 70,000 users having their information compromised.

[00:07:03]>> But it will likely be companies using tech that either estimates or verifies someone's age. That could be through asking for ID or face scans.

[00:07:12]>> Discord itself wasn't breached, but the third-party age verification app it was using was. This all begs the question of which companies are going to be carrying out these age checks and what will happen with the data.

[00:07:26]>> I'm really pleased to announce a new strategy to develop sovereign compute capability.

[00:07:33]It includes a major new commitment to purchase specialist AI chips worth about 400 million pounds.

[00:07:42]>> Over the last year, the private companies the government makes deals with have come under more and more scrutiny, notably Palantir, which has been providing software to the NHS and has become a lightning rod issue in the US for its AI-enabled surveillance infrastructure. MPs have already expressed concern about the UK government's getting into bed with Big Tech.

[00:08:05]>> forms. And that is sparking some cynicism among some politicians who say this announcement has been rushed because Sir Keir Starmer is desperate to get it announced before potentially he gets turfed out of Downing Street.

[00:08:16]>> It's not surprising that people think that introducing mandatory age verification to access popular websites is just another attempt to surveil the British public, though many more countries are in the middle of passing their own legislation inspired by Australia's example.

[00:08:33]>> Spain and Portugal seem to be the next in line, with politicians announcing plans and partly voting the rules in.

[00:08:38]>> The wider EU has already voted in favor of a report that recommends age-restricting social media, as well as enforcing stricter regulations banning companies from implementing infinite scrolls and autoplay. The UK, interestingly, isn't doing that so far.

[00:08:56]>> There is no plan to tackle the harmful algorithms.

[00:09:00]>> Nearly every country in Europe also independently has plans to restrict social media at either 15 or 16 years old, with many in the middle of consultations ahead of a potential ban.

[00:09:12]>> Governments in France, Malaysia, >> Denmark, >> Indonesia, >> and Norway are also in the process of bringing in a ban.

[00:09:18]>> Big Tech's response to this was to say that age verification would merely push children into less regulated parts of the web, though it's interesting to note that this is easier said than done considering Silicon Valley has spent years buying up competitors so that alternatives don't really exist.

[00:09:37]>> But the tech companies say they're not convinced a ban is the best solution.

[00:09:40]They say a ban could push teenagers into smaller, less safe spaces on the internet.

[00:09:46]>> For example, in the months and years after Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, now X, there was a mass exodus of users, but no clear alternative platform.

[00:09:57]People migrated desperately to Blue Sky, Mastodon, and Threads, but none has really replaced Twitter.

[00:10:04]>> Um what we do think is that smartphones and social media have fundamentally reshaped childhood over the last decade.

[00:10:09]>> Other platforms have served even more poorly. There's no viable alternative to Instagram, for instance, while YouTube rivals like Vimeo and Dailymotion barely affect Google's dominance of long-form internet video. In the last few years, there's been a push in the EU to use more European web services and end reliance on American big tech with middling results because of America's extreme market dominance.

[00:10:37]>> Kids are spending up to 5, 6, 7 hours a day on smartphones, most of that time on social media, and that's No one really wants that for their children.

[00:10:44]>> It begs the question, if providers haven't yet come up with alternative websites for the many adults that already want to move away from Silicon Valley, will providers launch websites aimed at children, especially when that becomes more and more illegal around the world?

[00:11:01]>> Um and I think the evidence is there that kids who get smartphones younger have worse mental health outcomes, and also they spend less time doing the kind of things that we all want them to do in childhood.

[00:11:11]>> People are also concerned that this law will have the wider consequence of just banning anybody unwilling to submit to age verification from participating in online life. However, there's evidence that social media isn't only harmful to developing children.

[00:11:27]>> I would introduce a lot more restrictions and like moderation on content because I think the moderators, especially on like Tik Tok, are letting a lot of things slide that they should probably shouldn't.

[00:11:37]>> also be harmful to adults who are also negatively affected by doomscrolling, targeted advertising, and extremist content. They too can become reliant on social media. In a landmark ruling in March 2026, a California jury found Meta and Google liable for designing addictive platforms and algorithms.

[00:11:59]>> There is broad support across the political spectrum for this. Earlier this year, in fact, the government was rejecting efforts by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to introduce just this kind of ban.

[00:12:08]>> It's undeniable that people, especially outside of America, are turning more and more against Big Tech. Countries want to stop relying on the US for digital infrastructure and are universally implementing regulations on social media that have certainly been a long time coming.

[00:12:27]>> And how how often, how many hours a day do you think you might be using it?

[00:12:31]>> Probably like 5 to 6 hours a day.

[00:12:34]>> It's certainly a complex issue with all sides making good points. There are dangers to children and indeed to adults, while at the same time handing over personal information to third parties is something almost nobody in the country wants. Meanwhile, Starmer talks about regulating Big Tech while in the same breath launches a plot to unleash AI tutors on Britain's most disadvantaged children, despite the heaps of evidence that using LLMs leads to cognitive decline and lowers literacy levels and critical thinking skills.

[00:13:11]>> And we're going further on this every day.

[00:13:14]Launching new tools like our AI tutors that we will roll out to the 450,000 children on free school meals to close the attainment gap.

[00:13:26]>> It's also been pointed that despite all this ostensibly being about safeguarding children, gaming titan Roblox hasn't been included in the ban even though it's had endless controversies about whether children are or aren't being protected on its platform.

[00:13:42]>> Now, Reddit has been fined 20 million dollars. That's around 14 and a half million pounds by the UK's data watchdog for breaches of controversial new rules to protect children online.

[00:13:53]>> But perhaps the critics are right and the ban won't actually work at all. And perhaps Silicon Valley would rather pay Ofcom's fines than give up its underage users. We'll have to wait and see how it goes here, in Australia, in the EU, and the rest of the world. But we don't think this will be the end of attempts to regulate these websites.

[00:14:16]>> Reddit says it says it plans to appeal the fine saying it remained deeply committed to its users privacy and safety and that being asked to collect more information about every UK user was counterintuitive.

[00:14:28]>> What do you think about the social media ban? Is it necessary? Will it work? Will you be handing over your ID? Do you think the rules need to go even further to clamp down on big tech's pervasive influence? Let us know in those comments below.