The British government has confirmed it will introduce restrictions on how children under 16 access and use social media. A consultation on the specific form those restrictions will take is already under way and closes at the end of May.
Government Stance on Under-16 Social Media Access
Technology secretary Liz Kendall said last week that there were strongly different views on whether a full ban was the right approach but made clear that some form of action was coming regardless of which direction the consultation pointed. As reported by the Guardian, the options being considered range from a complete ban on social media access for under-16s to targeted curbs on specific features and functions within apps.
Option One: Full Ban Similar to Australia
The first option is a full ban along the lines of what Australia introduced. This would prevent under-16s from accessing social media platforms entirely. More than 60 Labour backbench MPs have expressed support for this approach and the Conservative opposition has also backed it. The Molly Rose Foundation, set up by the family of Molly Russell who took her own life in 2017 after being served harmful content online, opposes a blanket ban and is instead calling for stronger safety standards across platforms.
Option Two: Age Limits on Specific Features
The second option involves placing age limits on specific features rather than banning platforms outright. The features flagged include livestreaming, location sharing, disappearing messages, the ability to send or receive images and videos containing nudity and stranger-pairing which allows children to connect with unknown adults online. The government said all of these features could enable serious harms including grooming and harassment.
Option Three: Restrictions on Addictive Features
The third option targets what the consultation calls addictive features. These include infinite scrolling where a feed reloads automatically without ever ending, autoplay video functions, like buttons, follower counts and push notifications designed to pull users back into an app. The question being posed is whether these features should be age-restricted rather than banned for everyone.
Option Four: Regulation of Recommendation Algorithms
The fourth option focuses on recommendation algorithms. Platforms use personalised systems to decide what content to serve each user. The consultation asks whether there should be an age limit on platforms that deploy such systems specifically to target content at children. Molly Russell had been repeatedly served content related to self-harm, depression and suicide by Instagram and Pinterest before her death. The consultation document explicitly references her case as evidence of what algorithmic targeting can do when it goes wrong.
Option Five: Mandatory Screen Time Limits and Curfews
The fifth option introduces mandatory screen time limits and overnight curfews on certain apps. This would make legally binding what platforms like TikTok and Instagram currently offer only as voluntary tools. The consultation also raises the idea of nudge techniques such as a compulsory six-second pause before a user can access a platform.
Option Six: Extending Restrictions to AI Chatbots
The sixth option extends the scope of any restrictions to AI chatbots. The government said the Online Safety Act did not fully account for chatbots when it was drafted and wants new protections specifically addressing harms such as emotional dependence.
