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Another half-baked curfew for teens who can just switch it off

The government has unveiled a voluntary midnight-to-6am social media ban for 16 and 17 year olds, complete with default blocks on autoplay and endless scrolling. Ministers insist it will fix sleep and family time while critics from all sides point out the obvious flaw in a system teenagers can opt out of with a few clicks.
Hugo Brown
15 Jul. 2026 · 11:48 3 min read Listen
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AI-generated image: Another half-baked curfew for teens who can just switch it off
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Intelligent summary
  • UK government plans default midnight to 6am block on social media for 16 and 17 year olds with opt-out via account settings
  • Policy includes disabling auto-play and infinite scroll by default and builds on under-16 ban due in spring 2027
  • Ministers cite benefits for sleep, school focus and family time while critics call it ineffective and piecemeal

I remember when bedtime meant lights out, not doomscrolling until your eyes burned. Now the government has decided to play digital nanny for 16 and 17 year olds with a voluntary overnight social media curfew. Announced around 14 July, the plan sets a default block on apps like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube between midnight and 6am. Sounds sensible on paper until you read the small print.

Users can simply opt out by fiddling with their account settings. They are also disabling addictive features such as auto-play and infinite scroll by default for this age group. The whole thing slots into wider online safety rules that already include a ban for under-16s, with live streaming and stranger chat switched off by default for the older teens. Measures are due before Parliament by the end of the year and take effect in spring 2027.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the steps would help young people get the sleep they need, focus on school and college, and spend more quality time with family and friends. Online safety minister Kanishka Narayan called it making Britain one of the most robust places for regulating tech companies and insisted it was right to trust older teens with the right level of support.

The opt-out loophole everyone saw coming

Campaigners were not impressed. Ellen Roome told the BBC the opt-out was not good enough and compared it to offering a 17 year old a bottle of alcohol and then moving it slightly out of arms reach. Conservative shadow education secretary Laura Trott described the plans as a dog's dinner and said curfews that teens can simply switch off would not achieve anything.

Beeban Kidron of the 5Rights Foundation called the measures for show and headlines rather than for children. She reckoned they had been cooked up in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology for another news round. Even Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, welcomed the move for older teens but labelled the announcement yet another piecemeal set of announcements rather than the comprehensive plan for children's safety that is required.

social media teenagers online safety government policy
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