The Government has announced that 16- and 17-year-olds will be subject to an overnight ‘social media curfew’ and restrictions on certain addictive features by default as it continues to take steps to protect children online.

We have already commented (here) on the major announcement last month that children under the age of 16 will face a total social media ban from Spring next year. At the same time, the Government indicated that separate measures would be introduced for 16- and 17-year-olds, informed in part by a series of pilot schemes testing the effectiveness of various types of restrictions (discussed here).

The report evaluating the various interventions has now been published (see here), and the Government has confirmed that it intends to introduce curfews for social media apps for 16- and 17- year olds between midnight and 6am.

The curfew will be imposed by default, alongside restrictions on certain addictive features. Whilst the Government has not yet specified precisely which features will be covered, its press release refers to “features that can keep users scrolling for longer – such as videos that automatically play one after another and feeds that continually serve up personalised content”.

Importantly, however, the Government has confirmed that whilst these will become the default settings, 16- and 17-year-olds will be able to change them. Some commentators have questioned whether allowing users to disable the restrictions will significantly undermine their effectiveness. However, the Government insists that “the new protections strike a balance between giving older teenagers greater safeguards online while still allowing them to change their own settings if they wish”.

One issue not addressed in the Government’s announcement is any action that it intends to take in relation to VPNs. Last month, reports suggested that a ban was being explored, however a Government minister stated that it is a matter that will continue to be reviewed, indicating that any ban may have been shelved for now.

In terms of what will come next, the Government has indicated that it will now turn its attention to a “package of measures to help children use AI chatbots safely”, including regular breaks for under 18s using chatbots and tackling services which provide “dangerous, misleading, or unverified medical advice”.

To read more, click here.