The United Kingdom will ban users under the age of 16 from accessing social media to protect them from being exposed to “dangerous” and harmful content, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday.

“Social media is making our children unhappy and unsafe,” Starmer said in a video.

Starmer added that technology companies “had their chance and failed”, adding that the government was “stepping in to protect children, back parents and set a new normal for future generations”.

The UK government said that it plans to use the same blocking model as in Australia. In December, Australia became the first country to block social media for those under 16.

The ban in the UK will include platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X. Messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Signal will not be covered under the ban.

On Monday, the Starmer government said that it will go beyond a blanket ban on social media by blocking “harmful functions such as livestreaming and stranger communication”.

The restrictions and the ban “go further than any other country”, the government said, adding that it will apply to a wider range of online services, including gaming sites.

“The government will also be looking in more detail at overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling” for those under the age of 18, and more details will be provided in July, the department of science and technology said in a statement.

It was unclear when the ban would take effect. The BBC quoted Starmer as saying that the government plans to pass the bill in Parliament before Christmas. This would allow the ban to be imposed in the first half of 2027.

The government said that the police came after conversations with stakeholders. More than 1.1 lakh responses had been submitted by parents, children and experts, it added.

“The responses showed overwhelming public backing for tougher action,” the government said, adding that nine in ten parents said they would support the ban.

In India, two states are planning to ban the use of social media for children under the age of 16.

In March, Siddaramaiah, the Karnataka chief minister at the time, announced that the state government will ban the use of social media for children under the age of 16. He did not mention when the ban would take effect.

The Andhra Pradesh government had also said in 2025 that it was considering a ban on social media for children in that age group.

After the Karnataka government’s announcement, advocacy group Internet Freedom Foundation had said that child safety online “demands serious, evidence-based policy not headline-driven prohibitions”.

In India, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act requires a data fiduciary to obtain verifiable consent from a parent or lawful guardian before processing the personal data of a child.

Written by Nachiket Deuskar. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

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