UK government announces social media ban and other measures to protect children online

The Ban will take a similar approach to Australia’s approach to defining social media and the platforms in scope will also be similar to those covered by the Australian social media ban model. For example, the Ban will capture “user-to-user platforms, whose purpose is to enable social interaction, and which allow users to post material, alongside algorithms”. The government has indicated examples of the platforms that would be caught by such a definition, but it is unclear how the approach to designation will be defined in legislation, what power will be retained by the Secretary of State, or what role Ofcom will play in designation.

The government also announced that its approach has reflected on the perceived weaknesses in the Australian approach. The government has characterised its approach as “Australia plus”. Additional measures will include:

• blocks on harmful features for platforms outside the scope of the Ban, including livestreaming and stranger communication with children
• bans on “romantic chatbots” for under 18s
• curfews and time limits for children between 16 and 18, to avoid a cliff edge at 16.

These measures are further to the provisions in the Online Safety Act, which will continue to be relevant to all user-to-user services as regards children over 16 and others not caught by the Ban. The government has also been clear that messaging services are not caught by the Ban. It is not currently clear how the government will deal with services that allow users to see content without logging in. A further announcement planned for July will also explain exemptions from the Ban, which are likely to include educational services, e-commerce platforms and music streaming.

DSIT letter to Ofcom—highly effective age assurance

In a letter published on the same day, the government has required Ofcom to set out the steps needed to implement highly effective age assurance measures necessary to enforce the Ban. Ofcom must publish this information by October. The government indicated that further resources will be made available to Ofcom to support this new workstream, although the amount of any funding was not published.

Ofcom’s CEO, Dame Melanie Dawes, responded to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) letter, indicating Ofcom’s acceptance of the deadline set for its task on age assurance and further reporting to Parliament on its online safety enforcement strategy.

Her letter called for clarity in legal provisions: “A clear lesson from the first year of implementing the Online Safety Act has been that clarity in the law facilitates successful compliance and enforcement. We would encourage the government’s regulations to be as clear and specific as possible, including about the services these restrictions will and will not apply to”.

Ofcom’s Group Director for Online Safety, Oliver Griffiths, then followed up with a more detailed letter to DSIT on June 16, 2026, indicating “that age assurance at 16 should be technically feasible but there are currently fewer available methods than at 18” and a “range of practical implementation challenges, including accuracy at boundary ages and how to approach the ‘ageing’ of child accounts”. 

The government’s announcement contained no proposals to amend the “age of consent” under the GDPR.

For further detail, please see:

• the government announcement 
• the progress statement 
• the government letter to Ofcom 
• Dame Melanie Dawes’ letter 
• the more detailed Ofcom response.

What happens next?

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, which came into force on April 29, 2026, amends the Online Safety Act 2023 to enable the Secretary of State to make regulations requiring certain internet service providers to prevent or restrict children’s access to internet services.

The announcement of the Ban was made swiftly after the closure of the consultation on May 26, 2026, and the government has indicated that more detail on the measures will be announced in July. The additional detail will include information on the use of VPNs, on which the government can also legislate using the powers in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act.

The government has indicated that the Ban regulations should be ready by December 2026, to come into force by the spring of 2027.