The government’s announcement on Monday confirmed a social media ban for under-16s in the UK, naming Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X as platforms to be restricted. But the details of which other services will be caught – and whether hugely popular gaming sites like Roblox will be included – remain sparse.
Roblox, which has been accused of failing to keep children safe, including allegations it allowed children to be preyed upon by adults, has already moved to introduce new safety measures. The company says it has expanded tools to estimate a user’s age to determine the games and experiences they can access. The threat of the ban appears to have jolted tech giants into action before it was even announced, with Roblox’s safety changes unveiled alongside the government’s statement.
“UK government announces under-16s social media ban, but questions remain over Roblox and gaming sites.”
“It is not yet clear how they will treat gaming sites,” said Lorna Woods, professor of internet law at Essex University. “Though if they follow the Australian approach, these will lie outside the Australian ban.” The government has said its restrictions will closely follow Australia’s, where Kick, Reddit, Threads and Twitch are also banned for under-16s.
Regardless of whether Roblox is ultimately included, all platforms will still be required to disable features that let strangers communicate with children – a restriction that the government explicitly applied to gaming services. Children will still be able to participate in multiplayer online games.
YouTube, which is included in the ban, has warned that the move risks pushing children towards “anonymous, less safe services”. Questions have emerged about what the ban would mean for access to educational videos. Citing research with consultancy firm Livity, Google says 95% of UK teens surveyed said watching videos helps with school work. YouTube Kids, however, will not be subject to the ban.
The government has promised an update on further restrictions, including potential curfews, curbing of “addictive” features such as infinite scroll and AI chatbots, in July. But many questions remain unanswered – including whether enforcing the ban will mean cracking down on virtual private networks that can disguise a user’s location online.