UK announces midnight social media curfew for older teenagers
The UK government has announced plans to introduce a default overnight social media curfew for 16 and 17-year-olds, although teenagers will be able to disable the restriction by changing their account settings.
Under the proposal, platforms including Instagram, TikTok and YouTube would automatically become unavailable to users in that age group between midnight and 6:00 a.m.
The government also intends to require platforms to switch off features it considers addictive, such as auto-play and infinite scrolling, by default. Officials say the measures are designed to improve teenagers’ sleep, concentration and family interactions.
However, critics have argued that the proposals do not go far enough, describing them as fragmented and insufficient to adequately protect children online.
The announcement follows the government’s decision in June to ban children under the age of 16 from using several social media platforms.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the measures would help young people get enough sleep, focus on their education and spend more meaningful time with family and friends.
She added that the government wants young people to enjoy the benefits of technology while ensuring they have the necessary protections to use the internet safely.
Conservative shadow education secretary Laura Trott criticised the proposals, calling them inconsistent and questioning their effectiveness.
She argued that allowing teenagers to switch off the curfew themselves would undermine its purpose.
In addition to the curfew, the government plans to introduce safeguards for children using artificial intelligence chatbots, including requiring providers to encourage regular breaks for users under 18.
The proposals are expected to be presented to Parliament before the end of 2026, with the aim of introducing them alongside the planned under-16 social media ban next spring.
Some child safety organisations and experts have questioned whether the overnight restrictions will achieve their intended goals.
Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, welcomed additional protections for older teenagers but described the announcement as another series of isolated measures rather than a comprehensive online safety strategy.
He also criticised the government’s broader approach to regulating social media, arguing that it lacked a clear implementation plan.
Professor Sonia Livingstone of the London School of Economics warned that an overnight curfew could have unintended consequences for vulnerable young people.
While supporting restrictions on companies sending push notifications during the night, she cautioned against measures that could prevent teenagers from accessing online support or trusted contacts during emergencies.
England’s Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, said young people generally do not favour outright bans but do want stronger protections against addictive platform features such as endless scrolling.
She said more details were needed on how the curfew would be implemented and stressed the importance of ensuring any new rules are effective alongside regulatory action by Ofcom.
The proposals follow a government trial involving around 300 teenagers, who experienced different forms of social media restrictions over a month.
Participants were divided into groups with complete app bans, overnight access restrictions between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., one-hour daily limits, or no restrictions.
According to a government report published on Tuesday, the overnight curfew produced the greatest improvements in sleep, encouraged more family interaction during the evenings and was the easiest option for parents to manage.
Liz Kendall said the findings reinforced what many parents had long observed—that reducing social media use can produce meaningful benefits for children.
However, Professor Pete Etchells of Bath Spa University cautioned against drawing broad conclusions from the relatively small study, describing it as only one piece of a much larger body of evidence on children’s technology use.
The UK’s proposals mirror Australia’s decision to ban social media access for under-16s, which came into force in December.
Australia’s policy has faced criticism after many teenagers reported they were still able to access restricted platforms despite the ban.
Concerns have also been raised about how effective age verification measures will be in the UK.
The government also addressed speculation about restricting virtual private networks (VPNs), saying research it commissioned found little evidence that large numbers of children were using VPNs to bypass age verification requirements.
Source: BBC
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