“The [UK] government has decided to ban social media access for children under 16. It’s a big step for our country,” declared the UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) June 15, 2026We are banning social media access for under 16s.
These days kids must find their feet in a world where technology intrudes into every area of their life.
I just can’t let that go on anymore. So we’re giving children their childhoods back. pic.twitter.com/jn7iQrcwk8
In a social media video released, Starmer also said:
Later, the UK PM addressed the press, followed by a brief Q&A. Some of the important statements made at the press conference are:
Addictive algorithms, infinite scrolls, and the harms of social media: “Social media is making children unhappy. It’s making it easier for bullies to harass and abuse them. And it could even be harming their mental health, exposing them to content that is dangerous because that’s what grabs the attention. It’s designed to be addictive…. Features like the infinite scroll are designed to lock you in for hours… It stops children from doing their homework, reading, playing with their friends outside, and going to bed at a decent hour.”
“I feel for this generation. I think back to my own childhood. And yes, the early 1970s weren’t always a picnic. But we didn’t have to deal with anything like this. A technology that intrudes into every corner of a life, almost impossible to escape, that records every mistake,” he added.
There is a correlation between social media usage and children’s mental health, says UK PM: Responding to a question regarding social media usage really having an impact on children’s mental health, he said, “I’d say there’s a correlation. I’d say there’s a particular added issue in relation to the COVID period for children and young people. Our job now is to act on that. The ban today is an important part of acting on that, but it’s not the only part.”
The UK won’t stop age-gating and will go after games and live streams to prevent contact with online strangers: “We’re not just bringing forward a ban. We’re going further. We’re taking world-leading action on gaming services and livestreaming platforms, where at the moment, strangers can contact… any child unchecked.”
“Is there a situation in the offline world where you would just let your child pair up with a stranger, an adult that you don’t know anything about? No. So we’re taking action on that,” he stated, outlining the intent.
The UK might enforce a social media ban legally by March-April 2027: “We hoped to pass a regulation before Christmas and therefore to bring the ban into force in the early part of next year, probably about springtime. So we can move at a real pace here.”
Platforms should be responsible and won’t punish children for trying to access it: “Firstly, the enforcement will be on the platform providers, not on the children… We’re not going to start taking action against 13 and 14 and 15-year-olds who are trying, as they always will, to get around rules that adults put in their path.”
How does the UK plan to measure the success of the social ban for children? Answering a question by a reporter, the UK PM laid out the following two points as metrics to measure the success of their plan/policy:
“Cultural change is always much harder than… changing the law is one thing; it can be very difficult. Cultural change is much, much harder,” he further stated.
The need to equip children to use social media after they turn 16 or 18: “We need to think about how this [social media ban] fits within the school curriculum, how children learn about technology and AI and social media, because the mere fact that we’re banning it from under 16, which we will, doesn’t mean we don’t need to teach children about social media because they’re going to be exposed to it when they’re past 16 or then again when they’re past 18.”
The UK chooses to age-gate social media despite its positive side: “This is not something I do lightly, and I will not present it as cost-free, as if social media has brought no benefits to young people, because clearly, that is wrong. But the government is always about choices. It’s clear to me that a full ban is the right choice.”
Why won’t the UK accept the ‘kids will always find a workaround’ argument? “Of course. That’s what kids do. They try to get around all of the laws that we put in place to protect them… Teenagers drink before they should. But we don’t then say, in which case, let’s abandon any attempt to stop them buying alcohol. We say, let’s improve the enforcement of what we’re doing. It’s exactly the same in this field,” he responded to the question by Channel 4’s reporter.
“We are ready and confident that this ban can be effective,” he stated elsewhere in this context.
The UK draws its social media definition from Australia’s law: “We’ve got a definition of social media, which is taken from the Australian model. So that means that certain features or services are expected to be within the ban and some that won’t… There are things like, for example, YouTube Kids, Lego Play, Classroom, and Google. They’re obviously on the other side of the line.”
“Other countries, I think, will be now looking to the UK to see whether that doesn’t provide a blueprint for them. I hope it does, because I want children to be safe in whatever country they live in,” he said elsewhere during the press conference.
Important Read: Check out Nikhil Pahwa’s 10-point argument on “Why banning children from social media avoids the real problem” here.
Explore MediaNama’s coverage of “Age Verification and Restricting Social Media for Children” here.
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