{"id":46956,"date":"2026-07-14T22:30:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T21:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=46956"},"modified":"2026-07-14T17:06:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T16:06:31","slug":"gov-sets-out-more-detail-of-uk-social-media-curfews-and-restrictions-for-under-16s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/07\/gov-sets-out-more-detail-of-uk-social-media-curfews-and-restrictions-for-under-16s.html","title":{"rendered":"Gov Sets Out More Detail of UK Social Media Curfews and Restrictions for Under 16s"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government has tonight set out more details of how they intend to implement their recently announced internet Social Media ban for children under 16 (original news<\/a>), which among other things includes new details on overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under 18s.<\/p>\n

In case anybody has forgotten. Last month saw the government confirm their intention to adopt an Australia style model of online censorship, which required the most popular Social Media platforms to effectively ban Children under the age of 16 – covering TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, Twitch, X, Threads, Facebook and Kick.<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> The first set of\u202frelated regulations are currently intended to be laid before Parliament by the end of this year, before being enforced from\u202fSpring 2027<\/strong>, alongside “robust implementation and enforcement<\/em>“.<\/div>\n

The plan also included a variety of other measures aimed at under 16s, such as a ban on livestreaming and chatting with strangers via online gaming apps (inc. gaming websites); the introduction of more Highly Effective Age Assurance (HEAA) measures (a complex problem to get right, while still preserving privacy); a review of Ofcom<\/a>’s enforcement capabilities to ensure they can handle the changes; restrictions for under 18s on the access and use of AI chatbots (e.g. romantic companion chatbots); and tech companies have a 3-month deadline to stop children from taking, sharing or viewing nude images etc.<\/p>\n

Restrictions on some of these functionalities are to be enabled by default for both under 16- and 17-year-olds to prevent a cliff-edge at sixteen, although we presume those aged 16+ will be able to disable many of them. However, popular internet messaging services, like WhatsApp and Signal, were excluded from the new social media ban.<\/p>\n

Finally, the government also said they were considering \u201coptions \u2026 about whether we could age-gate VPN use<\/em>\u201d, while at the same time looking in more detail at overnight social media curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under-18-year-olds. But on these last points the government said they’d set out more detail about how this would all work in July 2026, and today we got the answer.<\/p>\n

What does the new detail reveal<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

At the time of writing, the government’s official announcement is actually quite sparse on detail and merely confirms much of what they’ve said before, alongside a smidgen of extra information.<\/p>\n

Key Developments<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u27a4 Default overnight curfews from midnight\u202fto\u202f6am will be switched on for 16 and 17-year-olds on\u202fsocial media\u202fapps.<\/p>\n

\u27a4 Features that can keep users scrolling for longer – such as videos that automatically play one after another and feeds that continually serve up personalised content – will also be switched off by default for older teenagers.<\/p>\n

\u27a4 The Technology Secretary intends to bring forward a package of measures to help children use AI chatbots safely. These will include:<\/p>\n