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On June 15, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the UK government will ban children from accessing social media and enforce stricter age-gating mechanisms to ensure under-16s are protected from the harms and risks of social media and the internet. You can read MediaNama’s reporting of the announcement and the subsequent press conference here.
Following this announcement, the UK government released some of the responses it received through its public consultation process. Here are some of the key details from their public consultation report.
How many responses did the UK consultation receive? The UK government ran the public consultation for about 85 days, from 2 March 2026 to 26 May 2026. The distribution of respondents is as follows:
Interestingly, the short summary of the full report often cites children’s responses before outlining the government’s regulatory approach.
Key Findings:
Children who responded said they supported restrictions on the following features:
Therefore, the UK government says that even gaming applications cannot offer these features to under-16s, and platforms can’t enable them automatically. These features should be accessible only if the user voluntarily enables them.
How many people thought social media has more benefits to offer than risks?
Social media benefits vs harms: More than 25,000 respondents who answered this question identified the following as the benefits and harms of social media and of children’s access to those platforms.
The UK followed a mixed approach to the public consultation process: It used multiple-choice questions, open-ended responses and email submissions.
UK MP Kanishka Narayan also engaged with young people at forums such as the Youth Town Hall. He is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. View some pictures of his interaction with children here.
‘Risky’ designed-for-adults AI platforms will be banned for children: 66% of children have reportedly said that AI should have minimum age limits. “So, the riskiest ones, designed with adults in mind, will only be for people who are 18 and older,” stated the government.
“95% of responses to the parents’ consultation thought AI chatbots should have functionality restrictions, and 74% of young people (16-21) thought the same,” stated the report.
General-purpose AI chatbots won’t be banned; the features that enable sexualised interactions will be banned: “We therefore intend to ensure that chatbots whose primary purpose is to provide sexual relationships to their users cannot be accessed by children. Access to general-purpose AI models will not be age-gated. However, to access features on general-purpose models that enable sexually explicit interaction, a user would need to prove that they are over 18.”
What are the obligations on platforms? They need to do the following things:
17-year-olds may get a night curfew without a choice to turn off; UK to finalize this in July: “In July, we will set out our final decision on an optional nighttime curfew on social media between midnight and 6 am for 16 and 17-year-olds. This means overnight restrictions would be on as standard, but could be turned off by individuals”. This regulation may also target the ‘addictive features’. It stated that it would review the evidence before enforcing such restrictions.
UK children will not have access to social media even if they have parental consent: “Under these rules, social media apps or websites will not be allowed to offer their services to children under 16, even if you have permission from your parent or carer”
Which platforms will be barred from offering services to under-16s? Since the UK is yet to legislate the proposals, there is no final official list of platforms that must comply. However, it said it will follow the list of social media apps recognized by Australia’s law. They are: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X, YouTube, Kick and Reddit.
UK hasn’t decided on the narrow list of exemptions like music streaming and e-commerce platforms: “Our approach will be targeted and proportionate. Nearly a third of people who responded to our full consultation thought that educational and cultural sites, such as libraries and museums, should be exempt from age restrictions. There will be a narrowly defined list of exemptions, including, for example, educational services, e-commerce platforms and music streaming. We will keep this definition under review.”
UK wants platforms to be redesigned for young people, especially for useful information: “Access to high-quality and educational content remains essential. While many children may currently access content like the news through social media and video sharing platforms,10 these are not the only – nor always the most reliable – sources of high-quality, educational and news content. We want to see more high-quality services designed specifically for young people.”
Device-level age restrictions are under review; this is to ensure a better user experience for adults: “We think that by keeping under-16s off social media, preventing children from communicating with strangers and requiring more device-level protections for children, which prevent the taking, sharing or viewing of nude images, we will address these main risks. We think this approach will ensure children are protected in a way that is proportionate and risk-based and will not require adults to complete age checks where it may not be necessary. But we will keep this under review.”
Most parents supported more frequent age checks for adults for the sake of child safety: “81% of respondents to the parents’ consultation and 63% of respondents to the full consultation agreed that “adults should complete age checks more often, if it means children are safer online”.
UK plans to work with the tech industry to develop more accurate age-assessment tools: “We plan to improve the availability of age assurance for 16- 17-year-olds.” This includes exploring easier access to secure, privacy-preserving ways for people to prove their age online – such as reusable checks that confirm they meet an age threshold without requiring full ID each time. We will support the development of standards, to make it clear to industry and the public what best practice looks like for trustworthy age assurance technologies.”
UK will publish a detailed roadmap report in July 2026: A further update will be published on the full range of questions asked by 16 July 2026, including:
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