UK proposes voluntary overnight social media curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds

The UK government has proposed a voluntary overnight social media curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds, featuring a default six-hour lockout from midnight to 6:00 AM on major platforms including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, and X. Under this plan, which requires formal legislation before taking effect, addictive engagement features like autoplay and infinite scrolling will also be disabled by default for these older teens to encourage better sleep and focus. Although teenagers can bypass the restrictions by adjusting their account settings, officials argue the measures will improve concentration and family interactions, drawing on pilot tests with 300 households that showed sleep benefits. These proposals represent final initiatives of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's administration, with implementation expected to fall to his anticipated successor, and are slated to coincide with a stricter ban prohibiting under-16s from accessing social media in spring 2027.