Sixteen- and 17-year-olds in the UK will face an overnight social media curfew from next spring – but they can simply switch it off. The government announced plans to make apps such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube unavailable by default between midnight and 6am, while disabling “addictive” features like autoplay and infinite scroll. However, the block can be overridden in account settings, prompting campaigners and teenagers alike to question its effectiveness.
Ellen Roome, whose 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died in 2022 after what she believes was an online challenge, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “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.”
“UK government announces overnight social media curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds, but teens can opt out of the block.”
Lorna Woods, professor of internet law at Essex University, said the measure appeared designed to target “apprehensions from parents and child safety groups”. She noted concerns about services keeping young people engaged for long periods, impacting sleep.
Harvey, a 16-year-old from the south-east, told the Guardian the opt-out nature “renders the whole thing meaningless, because if someone is addicted to Instagram... they will turn it off”. He said he spends one or two hours a day on social media and has phone restrictions set by his parents, but acknowledged not everyone has that support. He also worried about age verification removing internet anonymity. “I don’t think these measures are inherently bad... but it’s the fine details that are important,” he said.
The curfew applies only to 16- and 17-year-olds, and follows a June announcement that under-16s would be banned entirely from a range of platforms. Optional parental controls and child-only versions of sites such as YouTube already exist.
Baroness Kidron, a long-time campaigner for age assurance at device level, was critical, telling BBC Breakfast it should not be about “banning children from tech” but “banning tech from putting toxic products in the hands of children”. Meta has argued that age verification should be handled by device manufacturers, not platforms alone. Apple recently introduced device-level age checks on iPhones and iPads.
Online safety minister Kanishka Narayan defended the action on BBC One’s Breakfast programme, insisting the combination of curfew and limits on addictive features would improve teenagers’ focus, sleep quality and family life. But with the opt-out available, critics – including the teenagers the policy is meant to protect – question whether it will change behaviour at all.
