Older teenagers in the United Kingdom could soon be banned from using social media between midnight and 6 am in a move the government says is aimed at keeping them safe.
The planned overnight social media curfew for 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds announced this week follows on from a proposed total ban on social media for all under-16s, which the UK government announced last month.
Lawmakers will get the chance to discuss and amend both prohibitions later this year, and both could come into force in the spring.
But campaigners have complained the overnight social media curfew could be nullified by users changing the settings on social media apps.
Ellen Roome, whose 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died in 2022 after apparently participating in an online challenge, said the fact that teenagers will be able to opt out means the curfew will not work as well as it should.
