{"id":493753,"date":"2026-03-25T03:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T03:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/493753\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T03:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T03:28:09","slug":"uk-teenagers-to-trial-social-media-bans-and-digital-curfews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/493753\/","title":{"rendered":"UK teenagers to trial social media bans and digital curfews"},"content":{"rendered":"

“These pilots will give us the evidence we need to take the next steps, informed by the experiences of families themselves,” she added.<\/p>\n

Children and parents involved in the government-led trial will also be interviewed before and after the pilot scheme to assess its impact.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the government’s consultation about banning social media for children will continue to run until 26 May.<\/p>\n

Such a move has widespread political support – with countries including France, Spain and Indonesia also considering emulating Australia’s ban<\/a> – and the backing of some campaigners and children’s charities.<\/p>\n

Other experts are more sceptical, warning such restrictions could be easily circumvented or could push children to darker corners of the internet. <\/p>\n

But some believe tech companies should make their platforms safer, not just be banned for children.<\/p>\n

Rani Govender, associate head of child safety online policy at the NSPCC, said that while the charity welcomed the government’s efforts to find the best way to keep young people safe online, it must also be ready to take “decisive action” when its pilot and consultation end.<\/p>\n

“This must include ensuring tech companies build safety into every device, platform and AI tool so children do not see harmful or illegal content and can only use age-appropriate services,” she told the BBC.<\/p>\n

“Failure to deliver on this and a social media ban for under 16s would be better than the status quo.”<\/p>\n

The Molly Rose Foundation meanwhile said it was “entirely right” for the government to be consult on its next steps rather than “rushing to implement” bans that may not work as intended.<\/p>\n

“Parents want decisive and evidence-based measures to protect children online and these tests will provide welcome insights into the practicality and feasibility of further interventions,” said its chief executive Andy Burrows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“These pilots will give us the evidence we need to take the next steps, informed by the experiences…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-493753","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}