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Following its announcement of an online social media ban for under 16s, the UK government has now announced a further tightening of its approach to youth online safety:
- default overnight curfews will be enabled for 16- and 17-year-olds on social media services between midnight and 6am; and
- features designed to encourage prolonged engagement, such as autoplay and continuously personalised content feeds, will be switched off by default for this age group.
The government is also considering additional safeguards for AI chatbot services, including mandatory breaks for under-18s and potential restrictions on chatbots providing mental health advice.
When will this take effect?
The first regulations are expected to be laid before Parliament for voting by the end of 2026 and come into force in spring 2027.
The context
Rather than focusing solely on harmful content, regulators are increasingly examining whether products are designed in ways that may create or exacerbate risks for children and young people. The concept of "safety by design" has become central to UK online regulation, with services expected to consider how platform architecture, recommendation systems and engagement mechanics can affect younger users.
The proposals rely on companies being able to identify users aged 16 and 17 and apply different protections accordingly. Many platforms already distinguish between adults and children for compliance purposes. However, the government is now signalling that different protections may also be expected for older teenagers rather than treating all users above 16 as adults. Companies that can accurately identify age groups and adjust features accordingly may be better positioned to respond if similar obligations are extended beyond social media.
The government intends to explore safeguards for chatbot services used by children, including mandatory breaks and restrictions on systems providing potentially harmful mental health advice. Ministers have indicated they are willing to consider banning chatbot services that pose serious risks to children. Businesses deploying generative AI features should expect growing regulatory attention where children and teenagers form part of the user base.
The proposed guardrails are aimed at ensuring that young people in the UK gain greater independence at 16 but recognise that they should still be protected from the most addictive online features that can have a harmful impact on their wellbeing.
Parallel discussions at EU level
Separately, the EU has been considering this thorny issue too and has suggested phased and gradual access to social media for different age ranges, saying that manufacturers have a duty to ensure the safety of their products and so the same principle must apply to digital platforms.
In addition, the European Parliament has called for a ban on the most harmful addictive practices and urged platforms to include risk-based safeguards for their recommender systems. It is encouraging the European Commission to introduce personal liability in case of serious and persistent non-compliance with the provisions concerning the protection of minors. In addition, it supports the introduction of a "youth mode" disabling targeted advertising and limiting addictive design features for minors.
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