The UK Government has announced today it will bring forward a social media ban for under-16s. 

Protections are expected to come into force in spring 2027, restricting children’s access to platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X.

It follows a consultation launched in January 2026 that featured more than 116,000 responses, with nine in 10 parents backing a blanket ban for children under 16. 

The government said it will learn lessons from Australia’s experience of similar restrictions by introducing more highly effective age assurance (HEAA) measures to support compliance, making it far harder for children to bypass safeguards. 

Dai Durbridge, Partner specialising in safeguarding in the education team at UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson, said: “Banning social media for under-16s may feel like the path of least resistance for the government but it will likely create challenges for schools.

“We have already seen how readily young people can bypass restrictions using virtual private networks, older siblings’ accounts and fake images since the Online Safety Act 2023 was implemented. The Children’s Code, which regulates access to online services for children, was also introduced in September 2021 and, if it had been enforced effectively, could have made a big difference to ensuring children’s online life was designed with their safety in mind.

“It therefore appears to be a lack of enforcement, rather than lack of suitable legislation, that has meant children have not been protected. The quality of enforcement and the strength of the tools used to prevent children accessing social media must be addressed if the social media ban is to be effective.

“Schools are already expected to operate mobile phone-free environments by default, with pupils denied access during lessons, break times and between lessons. But a statutory ban on under-16s accessing social media platforms is a fundamentally different obligation.

“It will raise immediate practical questions that headteachers and governors need to be thinking about now. This will involve understanding what the expectation on looks like when a pupil is accessing banned platforms at home, and how pastoral and safeguarding staff respond when they become aware that children are using platforms they are legally prohibited from accessing.

“Schools should take proactive steps between now and spring 2027 by ensuring staff are trained on what the incoming restrictions will require, and communicating to parents and carers about what the ban covers and, crucially, what it doesn’t. Messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal are explicitly excluded from the social media ban, which means schools that permit or use such apps for communication will need to think carefully about the implications of that gap.

“The Department for Education should also consider how to integrate further digital literacy skills into the curriculum as delayed exposure to these platforms could actually make later use riskier, rather than safer, with a ‘cliff edge’ moment at turning 16.

“Given the horse has already bolted on social media, a broader public discussion should now take place on how we retain or divert some of the genuine benefits it offers young people. These include peer support networks – particularly for isolated or marginalised teenagers – creative communities and access to educational content.”

Bernhard Maier, Partner at Browne Jacobson, commented: "The UK's ban on TikTok and YouTube for under-16s marks a huge shift in the growth-first policy in the UK. This will be an interesting experiment with huge trade, geopolitical and anthropological ramifications, with tech giants standing to lose substantial revenue. Yet the stakes extend well beyond teenagers. As Anthropic's own algorithmic developments show, the risk of catastrophic harm transcends teenagers. The debate is actually far wider than this development suggests."