A mobile phone screen displays the icons for the social networking apps Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced a forthcoming ban on social media for all children under the age of 16.
LONDON - Britain will ban children under 16 from major social-media platforms including TikTok, Instagram and YouTube by next spring, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday, making his government the latest to conclude that parents alone cannot hold the line against platforms engineered to maximise the time children spend on them.
The ban would cover 10 platforms - TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Threads, Twitch, Kick and Reddit - that dominate the social lives of many teens and preteens but not messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal.
Starmer said the government already has powers to take initial steps, with regulations expected to pass before Christmas and the full prohibition coming into force around next spring.
The announcement, made at a Downing Street news conference, came as Starmer confronts mounting pressure from within his Labour Party and is widely expected to face a leadership challenge in coming weeks. The timing prompted some critics to question whether the prime minister, who has previously opposed a blanket ban, was driven less by child welfare than political survival.
