UK Government Seeks Power to Restrict Social Media for Children
The UK government is moving to secure new powers that would allow it to restrict social media use for children. This signals continued regulatory pressure on digital platforms regarding child safety, which could impact product requirements for age verification, default settings, and onboarding processes.
- These powers are rooted in the Online Safety Act 2023, which imposes a "duty of care" on online platforms to protect users, especially children, from harmful content. - The UK's communications regulator, Ofcom, is responsible for enforcing the act and has the authority to fine companies up to £18 million or 10% of their global annual turnover for non-compliance. - Recent proposals aim to amend the Crime and Policing Bill and the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill to grant the government faster-acting powers. These could include setting a minimum age for social media use and restricting features like infinite scrolling and auto-play. - Prime Minister Keir Starmer has indicated that the government will also seek to close loopholes in the Online Safety Act to explicitly cover AI-powered chatbots. - As of July 25, 2025, platforms are legally required to use "highly effective" age assurance measures to prevent children from accessing pornography and content that promotes self-harm, suicide, or eating disorders. - The government is also considering options to age-restrict or limit children's use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) that can be used to bypass safety protections and age verification. - In January 2026, the House of Lords voted in favor of an amendment to the schools bill that would ban social media use for under-16s, though the government has signaled its intent to challenge it in the House of Commons. - The push for new powers is partly a response to criticism that the original Online Safety Act took eight years to pass, a timeframe seen as too slow to keep up with the pace of technological change.
