{"id":372338,"date":"2026-07-15T03:16:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/?p=372338"},"modified":"2026-07-15T03:16:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:16:02","slug":"u-k-proposes-teen-social-media-curfew-apps-off-from-midnight-to-6-a-m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/u-k-proposes-teen-social-media-curfew-apps-off-from-midnight-to-6-a-m\/","title":{"rendered":"U.K. proposes teen social media curfew: apps off from midnight to 6 a.m."},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.K. government has floated a default overnight social media curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds. If it goes ahead, <a href=\"https:\/\/instagram.en.softonic.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tik-tok.en.softonic.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">TikTok<\/a>, YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, and X would be unavailable from <strong>midnight to 6 a.m.<\/strong> unless the setting is turned off.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paired with a social media ban for <strong>under-16s<\/strong> that the government is expected to introduce in spring 2027, the plan would also switch off infinite scroll and autoplay by default for older teens. <a href=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.en.softonic.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">WhatsApp<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/signal.en.softonic.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Signal<\/a> wouldn&#8217;t be affected. Ministers say the idea is to cut down on late-night harm without imposing a full legal lockout.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anyone who keeps an eye on online safety policy should pay attention to this one. Ministers are pointing to <strong>sleep disruption<\/strong>, mental health, poor concentration, and less time spent with family and friends. They&#8217;re also citing a pilot involving 300 families that, they say, led to better sleep and sharper concentration.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Critics aren&#8217;t convinced. They argue that plenty of teens will simply opt out, and that the policy may be too blunt for vulnerable young people who turn to social platforms late at night for community, advice, or emotional support. Then there are the <strong>practical questions<\/strong>: how it would be enforced, how age checks would work, and whether platforms would apply the rules consistently.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The proposal comes after Australia&#8217;s <strong>2025<\/strong> ban for under-16s, along with similar efforts in the EU, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, and several U.S. states. If the U.K. adopts it, this would rank among the country&#8217;s toughest steps so far, and it would also serve as a real test of default limits versus outright bans.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.K. government has floated a default overnight social media curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds. If it goes ahead, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, and X would be unavailable from midnight to 6 a.m. unless the setting is turned off. Paired with a social media ban for under-16s that the government is expected to introduce &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/u-k-proposes-teen-social-media-curfew-apps-off-from-midnight-to-6-a-m\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;U.K. proposes teen social media curfew: apps off from midnight to 6 a.m.&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9265,"featured_media":372337,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-372338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":372339,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372338\/revisions\/372339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372338"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=372338"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=372338"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=372338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}