Starmer's package would apply to TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook and X, but carves out WhatsApp and Signal, with regulation targeted before Christmas and enforcement from early next year.
Six months after Australia became the first country to bar under-16s from social media, the United Kingdom is copying the model and adding to it. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on the BBC's live blog that under-16s in Britain will be banned from the major social platforms, with regulation intended to pass Parliament before Christmas and the rules taking effect "early next year."
The named platforms are Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X. WhatsApp and Signal are explicitly carved out, a choice the government has not yet publicly explained but that tracks their position as end-to-end-encrypted messaging services rather than public-feed social networks. The restrictions also extend beyond those six apps to a wider range of online services, including gaming sites, where the same age-gating rules would apply.
What separates the UK package from a simple age cut-off, according to Starmer's remarks on the BBC live blog, is the set of feature-level restrictions. Beyond blocking accounts, the rules would stop under-16s from livestreaming and from communicating with strangers on affected services, and those restrictions would be on by default. For users aged 16 and 17, the government is also scoping overnight curfews and forced breaks from infinite scroll, with the final design due in July.
The framing of "further than any other country" is the government's own claim, not an independent ranking, and it sits against an enforcement record that has yet to be written. Australia passed its under-16 social media ban in December 2024, the first such law in the world, and is now six months into a real-world test of age-assurance technology, regulator workload, and platform compliance. The UK government is explicitly using the Australian model as its starting point, but Australia has not yet published effectiveness data on whether the ban has reduced harmful exposure for children or merely pushed it into harder-to-police corners of the internet.
Starmer defended the choice in the BBC's live coverage, saying a "full ban is the right choice" and that he is not "prepared to compromise on the safety and happiness of our children." Bereaved families appeared on BBC Breakfast to share their reactions as the announcement was made, underscoring the political weight the government is placing on the measure.
The unresolved questions now sit in the parliamentary text and the enforcement machinery. Civil-liberties groups are expected to push on age-verification requirements, on the cliff-edge between 15 and 16, and on the inclusion of gaming sites where social features are layered onto play. Platform compliance, identity-assurance vendors, and the regulator's capacity to police millions of UK accounts will determine whether the announcement becomes a working ban or a patchwork of partial blocks. The July policy paper and the pre-Christmas bill are the next two dates to watch.