{"id":639730,"date":"2026-06-15T11:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T11:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/639730\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T11:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T11:28:15","slug":"britain-announces-sweeping-social-media-ban-for-under-16s-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/639730\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain announces sweeping social media ban for under-16s | News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__subhead\">British PM warns social media platforms are exposing children to content that is \u2018dangerous\u2019 and \u2018designed to be addictive\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"avatar\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/author\/al_jazeera_staff_150119130629458\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781522895_812_2017-06-08T131939Z_1189275883_RC11B0FE7F20_RTRMADP_3_GULF-QATAR-JAZEERA-1714943623.jpg\"   aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Published On 15 Jun 202615 Jun 2026<\/p>\n<p>British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced a ban on social media sites \u2060\u2060for under-16s as the United Kingdom plans to join a growing list of countries that place online restrictions on children.<\/p>\n<p>The sweeping changes will reflect Britain\u2019s values, help to protect children online and push back against the power of big technology companies, Starmer said at a \u2060\u2060news conference on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is clear to me a full ban is the right choice,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis will change the conversations that parents have and the expectations of children over time. It will make a huge difference. It will make our children safer. It will make our children happier. It will give them more time, more security, more freedom to grow up, more opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As well as a ban on sites \u200c\u200csuch as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram, he said his government would take action against gaming and livestreaming services that allow children to talk to strangers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs there a situation in the offline world where you would just let your child pair up with a stranger, an adult that you don\u2019t know anything about? No, so we\u2019re taking action on that,\u201d Starmer said.<\/p>\n<p>The prime minister warned that social media platforms are \u201cexposing them to content that is dangerous\u201d and \u201cdesigned to be addictive\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Timeline<\/p>\n<p>Starmer said he hoped to pass the regulation by late December so the ban could come into force in the spring next year.<\/p>\n<p>The government said in a statement it will also consider overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under-18s and will announce more details in July.<\/p>\n<p>Starmer said the upcoming ban was influenced by the experience of Australia, which in December became the first nation to ban people under 16 from social media.<\/p>\n<p>Canada\u2019s culture minister last week put forward a bill that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/economy\/2026\/6\/10\/canada-introduces-bill-to-ban-social-media-for-children-under-16\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">would prohibit<\/a> anyone under 16 from having social media accounts and oblige AI chatbot platforms to curb the creation of harmful content.<\/p>\n<p>The UK announcement followed government-led consultations in which British teenagers trialled social media bans and time limits on apps.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for YouTube responded with a warning that such a blanket ban would push children towards \u201cless safe services\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British PM warns social media platforms are exposing children to content that is \u2018dangerous\u2019 and \u2018designed to be&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[591,59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-639730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-europe","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639730","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=639730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}