The UK Is Planning a Social Media Curfew for 16- and 17-Year-Olds
The UK government is proposing a non-mandatory social media curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds, which would restrict access between midnight and 6 am. These measures, part of the broader Online Safety Act, also include disabling addictive features like infinite scrolling by default for older teens.
Why it matters
This represents a significant shift in government regulation of digital platforms, setting a precedent for how nations might enforce child safety and mental health protections online.
This automatic new curfew would theoretically lock older teens out of social platforms between the hours of midnight and 6 am—though the feature can be turned off. The nonmandatory restriction is to be imposed along with a looming total ban on these services for children under 16, expected to come into force in spring 2027. Both measures come after the Online Safety Act, a controversial set of laws that requires platforms hosting pornography and other material considered potentially harmful to children to verify that their users are 18 or older.
The report objectively outlines the proposed government policy and the stated rationale behind it without editorializing on the effectiveness of the measures.
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