UK social media ban for under-16s could cover up to 150 platforms

The UK government's proposed social media ban for under-16s could inadvertently capture up to 150 platforms, including YouTube Kids, Lego Play, and Spotify, according to sources briefed on the measures.

Set to take effect in March, the regulations will be submitted for cabinet approval this week before Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy introduces them to Parliament in December. The rules do not require primary legislation and will be introduced through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (CWSA).

Ministers are seeking a catch-all approach to prevent workarounds, drawing on lessons from Australia, where teenagers were able to bypass bans by using alternative platforms. The current proposals target sites featuring recommender systems and user-generated content. Although the government announced in June that e-commerce, educational services, and music streaming would receive narrow exemptions, technology companies argue the criteria are too broad, noting that services such as YouTube Kids cannot operate without recommender algorithms. The minister for online safety, Ian Murray, countered this idea, stressing that platforms can remove themselves from the banned list by redesigning their services to eliminate harmful algorithms, recommender systems, comment sections, or stranger messaging.

A second set of regulations evaluating features and functions is planned for Spring and could encompass e-commerce platforms such as Vinted, eBay, and Depop, due to concerns that anonymous messaging functions could be exploited by groomers. 

In related news from across the English Channel, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that artificial intelligence (AI) should be banned wherever it poses a risk to Children's mental health. Macron, who is pursuing a ban on social networks in France for under-15s, said, "If there is a risk for children with certain uses of AI, then it must be banned." 

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