THE GOVERNMENT HAS ANNOUNCED ACTION - NOW WE MAKE SURE IT HAPPENS
On 15th June, the Government confirmed it: the UK is raising the age of harmful social media to 16. Ministers say this goes further than any other country has gone, and the change is expected to be brought before Parliament before Christmas, with protections coming into force in Spring 2027.
This is a direct result of the tens of thousands of parents, children and clinicians who responded to the consultation, and of years of relentless campaigning. It would not have happened without you.
But an announcement is not the same as delivery. Spring 2027 is still a long way off, and every month of delay means more children exposed to platform features that damage their health, education and life chances. Ofcom has been asked to carry out a rapid study on how to verify age effectively, and to review its own enforcement capabilities. That work has to move fast, and it has to result in rules that actually bite.
The commitment has been made. Now we must make sure it’s kept.
On 15th June, the Government confirmed it: the UK is raising the age of harmful social media to 16.
Legislation is expected before Parliament by the end of the year, with protections coming into force in Spring 2027. Ofcom has also been asked to carry out a rapid study on age assurance, and to set out how it will enforce the new rules.
We must hold them to their commitment.
The evidence is now overwhelming by every measure:
health, educational attainment, cognitive ability, crime, economic productivity;
children are being harmed.
We have a chance to act and give children their childhood back
CHILDREN DESERVE OUR PROTECTION FROM HARMFUL ONLINE PLATFORMS
We have reached an inflection point and action must be taken to avoid what is nothing short of a societal catastrophe caused by children’s access to social media.
The evidence is now overwhelming: by every metric, health, educational attainment, cognitive ability, crime, economic productivity, children are being harmed.
In January, the House of Lords voted overwhelmingly to raise the minimum age for harmful social media to 16. It is now coming to the House of Commons. There is no need for a consultation; this needs to happen now.
HOW THE NEW LAW TO PROTECT U16s WILL WORK
If the House of Commons accepts the statutory amendment proposed by the House of Lords, the operator of any social media, gaming or other platform which is not designed for safe use by children can be required to block children under 16 from using its platform, and will face serious financial and business penalties if it fails to do so (including fines of up to 10% of global turnover).
The Government will be required to publish detailed rules about how the ban will operate and how it will distinguish between services that are appropriate for use by children and those which are not appropriate. In this way the ban will be able to specifically target platforms with child-inappropriate features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, geolocation and stranger messaging, leaving child-safe platforms unaffected.
The ban can also apply dynamically, meaning that banned platform operators will have opportunities to make their platforms safe for use by U16s, or to release child-focussed versions of their services, in order to come out of the ban.
This will not be a blanket ban, and it will not apply only to social media. It will be a highly-selective ban that can target only those platforms whose design features expose children to harm or exploitation. Its core aim will be to prevent child-inappropriate platforms from continuing to make money from children’s misery, but it will not stop children from accessing the rest of the online world.
