UK to Ban Under-16s from High-Risk Social Media Features
UK will restrict under-16s from using high-risk social media features including livestreaming and AI chatbots.
Why it matters: These new regulations aim to boost online child safety and affect social media platforms' compliance and privacy laws, relevant for legal and regulatory professionals.
- Under-16s banned from high-risk social media features like disappearing messages, livestreaming, and interactions with strangers.
- Under-18s prohibited from using romantic or sexual AI chatbots.
- Consultation drew 116,000 responses; 90% of parents back under-16 bans on certain features.
- Law enforcement bodies highlight risks from platforms enabling criminal exploitation of minors.
The UK government is moving forward with plans to ban under-16s from accessing 'high-risk' social media apps and to restrict features such as disappearing messages, livestreaming, and contact with adult strangers on safer platforms. This is part of a wider push to strengthen child online safety following the Online Safety Act, effective August 2025, which mandated age verification for harmful content like pornography and self-harm material. The Guardian reports that under-18s will also be banned from interacting with romantic or sexual AI chatbots.
The government received over 116,000 public responses to its consultation on children’s online safety, with 90% of parents supporting an under-16 ban on specific social media features. Enforcement agencies, including the National Crime Agency and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, have emphasized the urgent need for restrictions on platforms with design elements that facilitate criminal exploitation of minors, such as mass discoverability and unrestricted contact from unknown adults. Their joint position paper calls for protective measures aligned with safeguarding efforts.
The Online Safety Act, specified by official UK government guidance, serves as the legislative backbone of these reforms. It requires companies to verify users’ ages to restrict harmful content access and now extends to regulate social media features that pose risks to minors. These changes aim to balance online safety with user privacy, placing new compliance burdens on platforms to monitor and restrict feature availability based on age.
Details on which social media platforms will be classified as ‘high-risk’ and the timeline for implementing these restrictions have not yet been disclosed. However, this policy reflects the government’s response to concerns from parents and law enforcement facing digital risks to children, aiming to create a safer online environment for minors.
By the numbers:
- 116,000 responses — public consultation on child online safety reforms
- 90% parents — support banning under-16s from certain risky social media features
- 840,000 adults — pose a sexual risk to children in the UK
What's next: The government has not yet announced the precise timeline or the list of social media platforms that will fall under the under-16 high-risk classification.