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Social Media: Children

Asked by Charlie DewhirstConservativeDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled Answered 6 July 2026UIN 15231

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the press release, "Social media to be banned for under-16s in landmark government move to give kids their childhood back", of 15 June 2026, at what time of the evening would the overnight curfew start.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan

Keeping children safe online is a priority for this government. On 15 June, the government published a progress statement following the ‘Growing up in the Online World’ consultation.

This announced that government were banning social media companies offering their services to children under the age of 16, preventing under 16s accessing harmful functions on a wider range of services and preventing under 18s from accessing AI chatbot services that primarily offer sexualised content and requiring AI chatbots to prevent children under 18s from accessing features that generate sexually explicit conversations.

The government will provide a further update on any curfew measures in the coming weeks.

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