UK Plans Night-Time Curfew for Teens: Social Platforms Must Default to Restricting Late-Night Use

On the 15th (Wednesday), the UK government announced that, building on its previous plan to ban under-16s from using major social media services by spring 2027, it will further extend protections to 16- and 17-year-olds. Social platforms must default to restricting usage from midnight to 6 a.m. and must also default to disabling features that encourage user addiction, such as autoplay, infinite scrolling, and continuous personalized content pushes.

Prior to this policy announcement, the UK government conducted a pilot involving 300 teenagers and parents. Participating families reported that children quickly adapted to the night-time social media curfew, and the change helped improve sleep quality and attention.

Liz Kendall, the UK’s Minister for Science and Technology, stated that these measures will be “crucial for young people to get the sleep they need, focus on school and learning, and spend more high-quality time with family and friends—foundations for building a happy, healthy, and fulfilling adult life.”

The government plans to submit the new proposals to Parliament by the end of 2026, aiming for them to take effect simultaneously with the spring 2027 ban on social media use for under-16s in the UK.

Current uncertainty lies in how the UK will implement these changes, which may largely depend on social media platforms themselves to enforce age verification. The UK regulator Ofcom is currently evaluating the effectiveness of platforms’ age verification systems.

Algorithm-driven social media platforms have long raised concerns over addiction and cyberbullying, prompting governments worldwide to consider or implement measures to limit teen access.

Since December 10, 2025, the Australian government has required platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent under-16s from creating or maintaining accounts. The European Union also announced a similar policy direction this week.

The EU’s Special Expert Group on Child Online Safety recommended in its final report establishing a graduated, age-based internet access system across all 27 EU member states: children under 3 should not be exposed to screens in principle; children under 13 should only access the internet under adult supervision and with strict time limits; and older teens should have permissions gradually expanded by age, rather than receiving full functionality all at once.