England will require social networks companies will implement a default restriction on youth users aged 16 and 17 for certain hours, the country’s Department of Science, Innovation and Technology revealed on Tuesday evening.
This new automatic curfew will theoretically lock young adults out of social networks between midnight and 6 a.m.—though the feature can be turned off. Unnecessary restriction should be placed along with the upcoming absolutely prohibited on these services for children under 16, expected to come into force in spring 2027. Both measures come after Cyber Security Acta controversial a set of laws that require platforms that host pornography and other material deemed harmful to children to verify that their users are 18 years of age or older.
Young Brits will also see a “decrease” in the “addictive” features of social apps, DSIT said in a news release, including “videos that play automatically one after the other and feeds that constantly offer personalized content.” These procedures will be “disabled by default for older teens,” according to a statement from the department. However, people will also be able to delete those.
The first full social media regulations will be tabled in Parliament later this year before they come into force in 2027.
The DSIT said the latest set of proposed regulations is intended to “help ensure there is no edge in protection as young people enter their teenage years,” as future young people will no doubt have no experience with social media before that age, due to restrictions placed on apps and websites by the Online Safety Act.
“These measures will be vital in helping young people get the sleep they need, focus on school and university, and spend more quality time with family and friends, all of which are fundamental to building happy, healthy and fulfilled adults,” UK Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said in a statement about the new measures.
“We want young people to enjoy the benefits of technology while having the tools to make the online world a place where they can thrive,” Kendall said.
The DSIT further indicated that Kendall aims to introduce additional safeguards around artificial intelligence, including mandated chatbot breaks for children under 18, who are already barred from AI systems that can simulate romantic conversations. Regulators will be charged with regulating services that provide “dangerous, misleading, or unproven mental health advice,” with the department warning that chatbots found to be “threatening” to young people in the UK could be banned outright.
Finally, the government is trying to strengthen children’s media literacy with updated school curricula on AI, technological bias, and misinformation and fake news, as well as strategies to identify violent and misogynistic content.
In recent years, as technology leaders are facing a wave of the main case and Terrible research regarding the potential negative effects of social media on young, advocate users inspired worldwide push for an age limit on these platforms, with parents and politicians often agreeing on the need for such protection. The British government, for example, has found that out 9 out of 10 parents there “supports the legal requirement for social networking services to have a minimum age of access.” A Pew Research Center study published this month found that 56 percent of American adults would also reinstate the ban on social media for those under 16.
But groups including Electronic Frontier Foundation,, American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and HAPPINESS have strongly criticized this type of “age-out,” arguing that it is an oversimplified solution that curtails rights to open information and freedom of expression. They suggest that lawmakers can use these restrictions to check sex education and LGBTQ Resources which is of vital value to young people.
