United Kingdom and will prohibit the use of social networks for people under 16 years of age, as its Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, announced this Monday, with the aim of “giving children their childhood back.” “This marks a before and after. The technology giants had their chance and failed, but we will intervene to protect children, support parents and establish a new normal for future generations“said Starmer, who has announced that they will even go “further than any other country.”
Like , although it faces many difficulties, the United Kingdom will prohibit the access of minors under 16 years of age to platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, but not to messaging services such as WhatsApp or Signal. The Starmer Government plans, however, to “go beyond a general ban on networks” and “will implement world-first measures to block harmful features such as live streaming” and the possibility of strangers communicating online with people under 16 years of age.
On the other hand, AI chatbots used to “simulate sexual relations or role-playing” will also be restricted to people under 18 years of age.as well as “other similar intimate functionalities” of AI. According to the British Government, “these measures will lead to a much more comprehensive model than a simple blanket ban on social media, a model that will respond to children’s online suffering and not just where it occurs.”
To prevent these minors from accessing social networks, the United Kingdom will learn from the Australian experience, one that still exists today, a year later. Therefore, They plan to “introduce much more effective age verification measures to support compliance, making it much more difficult for children to circumvent safeguarding measures”. Ofcom, the British body that supervises and regulates the communications sector, which includes internet services, “will carry out a rapid study on what can constitute an effective age verification”, which is actually capable of checking whether someone is over or under 16 years of age.
Keir Starmer made this announcement after the country addressed “one of the most important national debates”; a discussion that garnered more than 116,000 responses from parents, children and experts across the country, which “demonstrated overwhelming public support for stricter measures.” “Nine out of ten parents stated that they would support prohibiting the use of social networks for children under 16 years of age”a measure that, strange as it may seem, was also supported by “the majority of young people”, of whom “two-thirds agreed that those under 16 should not be allowed to use at least some social media platforms.”
The British Government hopes to be able to approve a first set of regulations in the spring of 2027. In line with Starmer, British Technology Secretary Liz Kendall pointed to technology companies. “They have had countless opportunities to protect children, but they have not acted. Therefore, We take power from the tech giants and give it back to parents“he stated.
