The UK government has announced plans to introduce a voluntary midnight social media curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds. Under the proposal, popular social media platforms would be set to block access by default between midnight and 6:00 a.m. The measures are intended to protect older teenagers from addictive online features, such as infinite scrolling and algorithmic feeds, which officials argue can disrupt sleep and negatively impact mental health. While the curfew will be enabled by default, users will retain the ability to manually switch off the restrictions in their account settings.
This initiative is part of a broader government strategy to regulate the online environment for young people. It follows a previous announcement in June 2026, which outlined a total social media ban for children under 16. The government plans to present these new measures to Parliament by the end of 2026, with the goal of implementing them by spring 2027. The restrictions are expected to apply to major platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and X, though messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal will remain unaffected.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall stated that the move aims to provide young people with the tools to thrive online while mitigating the impact of features designed to keep users engaged for extended periods. The government cited feedback from a pilot program involving over 300 families, which suggested that overnight restrictions could help improve sleep quality and concentration. Additionally, the government is exploring new safeguards for artificial intelligence, including requirements for regular breaks when using chatbots to prevent potential harm from misleading or unverified advice.