UK Expands Teens' Social Media Restrictions

Britain's oldest teens are about to get a curfew for scrolling. Starting next spring, 16- and 17-year-olds in the UK will be nudged into a midnight-to-6am social media shutdown, with major apps automatically blocked during those hours unless the teens actively switch the setting off, the Guardian reports. The new Labour policy, which follows a pilot study on social media curfews, extends a tougher under-16 social media ban announced last month, and will also turn off by default some of the most attention-grabbing features for older teens, like endless personalized feeds and auto-play video—again, unless users opt back in.

Tech Secretary Liz Kendall framed the curfew as a way to boost sleep, focus, and family time, citing trials that found later bedtimes, poorer concentration, and higher stress linked to night-time use of apps like TikTok and Snapchat. But child-safety advocates, including those at the Molly Rose Foundation and 5Rights Foundation, dismiss the opt-out curfew as cosmetic, calling it headline-friendly but far from the comprehensive protection they say parents and experts have asked for, per the Guardian and BBC. For one thing, virtual private networks won't be restricted, with ministers citing free-speech concerns and government research suggesting only a small minority of kids use VPNs to dodge age checks.