The UK will ban social media for children under the age of 16 in a landmark move from the country following debates, a public consultation, and previously turned down amendements.

The UK government plans on using the same model for social media bans as currently in use in Australia, capturing user-to-user platforms that enable social interaction online, allows posts, and uses algorithms.

This includes Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X, and YouTube. The ban will not include messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal.

The proposed ban will go further, however, and aims to prevent livestreaming and stranger communication for children under 16, which will apply to a range of sites, including gaming services.

Restriction on these functions will also be on by default for all those under 18, in order to prevent a cliff-edge at 16. The government will also be looking in more detail at overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under-18-year-olds and will set out more detail in July.

“Parents want to keep their kids safe and happy, but the online world has made that harder than ever,” prime minister Kier Starmer said.

“I’ve heard first hand from families crying out for change and we will do right by them.

“That’s why we’re going further than any country in the world by banning social media for under-16s and putting wider protections in place to give kids their childhood back.

“This is a line in the sand. Tech giants had their chance and failed, but we’re stepping in to protect children, back parents and set a new normal for future generations.”

In a press conference announcing the ban, Starmer said that him and other parents can “see if with their own eyes. Social Media is making children unhappy.”

He descibed social media as “designed to be addictive – of course it is.”

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The new social media rules will also extend to AI ‘romantic companion’ chatbots, that will have to enforce a minimum age of 18. Similar intimate functionalities will be restricted for under-18s on AI chatbots more widely

Leaning from Australia’s ban, the UK will introduce more highly efective age assurace measures to support compliance, making it harder for children to bypass safeguards.

To produce this, Ofcom has been tasked with creating a rapid study on what effective age assurace for verifying age could look like.

The government currently is taking the first steps to implement the ban, with regulation by the end of the year, and the full ban in place by next spring.