By midnight, the screens of millions of British teenagers will be forced to go dark under a government plan announced on Tuesday — though a simple settings change will let them switch the lights back on.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology wants social media apps including Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to be set as unavailable by default for 16 and 17-year-olds between midnight and 6am. Alongside the curfew, the government says “addictive” features such as auto-play and infinite scroll should also be disabled, aiming to improve teenagers’ focus, sleep quality and family life.
“Midnight social media curfew for UK teens aged 16-17 announced, but opt-out draws fire from campaigners.”
But the plan stops short of a blanket ban. Teenagers can opt out by changing their account settings — a loophole that has drawn sharp criticism from campaigners.
Ellen Roome, whose 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died in what she believes was an online challenge gone wrong in 2022, called the measure a “missed opportunity”. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said: “I just think it’s not good enough really just to have a product you can switch off, it’s a bit like offering a 17-year-old a bottle of alcohol and then moving it slightly out of arms reach, they can just drag it back in, I really wish they could go stronger and harder on these things.”
The new proposals follow an announcement in June that under-16s in the UK would be banned entirely from a range of platforms. Together, the policies create a complex — and potentially confusing — mix of government and tech firm measures intended to keep young people safe online, including optional parental controls and child-only versions of popular sites such as YouTube.
Lorna Woods, professor of internet law at Essex University, told the BBC the measure seemed designed to target apprehensions from parents and child safety groups. “There have been concerns about the way services keep children and young people engaged on their phones for long periods, and that this can impact their sleep, amongst other effects,” she said.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has previously said it wants age verification to be handled by device manufacturers rather than platforms alone. Apple recently introduced “device level” age checks, meaning anyone using iPhones and iPads with the latest operating system must verify their age.
Baroness Kidron, a vocal campaigner for safety and age assurance measures at device level rather than app level, was critical of the government’s approach. Speaking to BBC Breakfast, she said the focus should not be on “banning children from tech” but “banning tech from putting toxic products in the hands of children”.
Online safety minister Kanishka Narayan defended the government’s action, saying on BBC One’s Breakfast programme that the combination of the curfew and limits on addictive features would deliver meaningful change.