Keir Starmer To Ban Under-16s From TikTok, Snapchat, And Instagram Under “Australia-Plus” Plan

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is expected to ban under-16s from major social media platforms including TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram, and ministers are also considering restrictions on children livestreaming and talking to strangers on gaming apps.

“Starmer set to ban under-16s from major social media platforms Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is expected to ban under-16s from major social media platforms including TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram”

BBC

The BBC reports Starmer will “call time on a system that’s failing our kids” as the government prepares to unveil the scheme described by Whitehall sources as “Australia-plus”.

BBC

The Independent says the UK will follow Australia’s example by raising the minimum age to 16 for sites including TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Facebook, X, YouTube, Snapchat and Reddit, and it adds the prime minister will go further by including chatbots and imposing a curfew for older teenagers.

A government consultation closed a fortnight earlier, and the Independent says it received about 116,000 responses, while Downing Street said around 90 per cent of the 39,116 parents who responded supported a minimum age of 16.

The BBC also says the government’s three-month consultation closed after putting forward less dramatic interventions such as switching off addictive features like infinite scroll and autoplay, curfews, strengthened age verification, and restricted AI chatbot use.

The Independent reports culture secretary Lisa Nandy said banning social media for under-16s is on its own not “the silver bullet solution”, but should be part of a “basket of measures” to protect children online.

Nandy told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that Australia’s experience showed the difficulty of enforcement because there weren’t very tough age verification measures, adding: “That’s one of the things that we’re looking at and the prime minister will say more about tomorrow.”

BFM

The BBC reports that while a government consultation found a majority supports a social media ban for under-16s, some campaigners have said such sweeping measures would cause more problems.

Ian Russell, the father of Molly Russell who took her own life aged 14 after seeing harmful content online, told the BBC he would be “dismayed” should such bans come into force, and he warned an Australia-style ban would “create a false sense of safety”.

The Independent also says a survey found just one in seven adults trust government ministers to decide which social media platforms are appropriate for children, while the IPPR survey of more than 2,000 adults found 51 per cent trust parents, 49 per cent trust an independent regulator, and 15 per cent trust government ministers.

The Guardian says Starmer will announce the ban on Monday morning after months of pressure to act, and it describes the restrictions as “Australia plus” with teenagers banned from all the main social platforms.

“The United Kingdom, in turn, launches the debate on banning social networks for minors”

l'Opinion

The Guardian adds that online products not covered by the ban, such as gaming apps, will face new restrictions including having the option to chat to strangers removed, and it says there will also be restrictions for older teenagers up to the age of 18 that prevent “scrolling” late at night.

The Guardian reports that under-18s will be banned from accessing romantic or sexual AI chatbots, and it says the government may need to legislate to enforce the ban and to give itself flexibility to adapt to new technology.

The Guardian quotes Matthew Sinclair, the senior UK director of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, saying: “Blanket restrictions on features will stifle access to age-appropriate experiences with proper parental controls, encouraging children to seek out riskier unregulated alternatives.”

The Independent says the consultation also found 88 per cent of respondents believed fewer children would be exposed to inappropriate or harmful content, while it reports 75 per cent said families would argue less and teachers and schools might find it easier to manage digital behaviour if there were age restrictions on social media.