UK says it will consider banning social media for children
British ministers will visit Australia to “learn first-hand from their approach,” the government’s Monday announcement said, alluding to the country’s controversial ban on social media use for children under age 16.
The British government announced Monday that it is considering banning social media for children 15 and younger as Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned “no option is off the table.”
In addition to a social media ban, officials said they are studying ways to improve age assurance technology, raising the digital age of consent, imposing phone curfews and restricting social media company practices that encourage addiction and what the government called “infinite scrolling.”
“Being a child should not be about constant judgement from strangers or the pressure to perform for likes,” Starmer said in a Substack post Tuesday. “For too many today, [social media use] means being pulled into a world of endless scrolling, anxiety and comparison.”
Source: https://therecord.media/uk-says-it-will-consider-social-media-ban-kids
Related breach coverage
- French Senate passes bill that would ban children under 15 from social media2026-04-02
If the French effort becomes law, it would make France the first European country to follow Australia’s lead by banning social media for young teenagers.
- Spain will ban social media for kids under 162026-02-03
"We will protect [children] from the digital Wild West," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez reportedly said in remarks at the World Government Summit in Dubai.
- Netherlands latest European country to mull social media ban for children2026-02-02
The new Dutch minority government is pushing to raise the minimum age to access social media to 15 — the latest such proposal in Europe after France and the United Kingdom announced similar efforts.
- UK pilot program to test social media restrictions on families before government decides on ban2026-03-24
The U.K. government will try out various social media restrictions on certain families as part of a pilot program as it mulls a potential social media ban for teens.
