Social Media Ban for Under-16s: the Next Challenge for Child Protection

From Spring 2027, children under 16 in the UK are to be prohibited from using major social media platforms. The Government announced the policy in June 2026 following its consultation on children’s online safety and has since confirmed that the first regulations are intended to be laid before the end of 2026. The proposed model is broadly based on Australia’s approach and is expected to cover platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, X, and YouTube, while messaging services such as WhatsApp are not presently intended to fall within the prohibition. Stronger age-assurance requirements will sit alongside the restriction. The policy represents a substantial change in the regulatory treatment of children’s online lives. Yet one important question has received comparatively little attention: what happens when a child under 16 continues to access social media after the ban comes into force?

The question is particularly important for children’s social care. If a parent knowingly allows a 13-year-old to access TikTok through an adult account, will this simply be a matter of circumventing platform restrictions, or could it become relevant to an assessment of emotional harm? More significantly, could continued exposure to social media constitute emotional harm, neglect, or otherwise contribute to the threshold for statutory intervention? At present, the answer is much more nuanced than simply treating social media access as evidence of inadequate parenting.

Why has the Government intervened in children’s social media usage?

The Government describes the reforms as intended to reduce online harm and improve children’s wellbeing following the enactment of the Online Safety Act 2023. Its September 2026 fact sheet states that children under 16 will no longer be able to use social media services from Spring 2027, while remaining able to use the internet for education, news, games, and communication with known friends and relatives. It also acknowledges the possibility that children may attempt to circumvent age-assurance mechanisms, including through VPNs and parent accounts. The policy arrives against an increasingly substantial body of research concerning children’s experiences online.

Scholars argue for a precautionary approach. Drawing on clinical practice and existing research, Skinner and Foljambe write social media exposure contributes directly to children’s mental health struggles with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, body-image difficulties, self-harm and suicidality, while identifying neurodivergent children and those experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage as potentially particularly vulnerable.[1]

Would allowing children to use social media amount to emotional harm?

The starting point remains the Children Act 1989 and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, rather than the existence of the social media ban alone. Under Working Together, safeguarding includes protecting children from maltreatment occurring inside or outside the home, including online, and preventing impairment of their physical or mental health or development. Child protection concerns children who are suspected of suffering, or being likely to suffer, significant harm.[2] The guidance recognises that significant harm can arise through online abuse and that section 47 enquiries may be required where the relevant threshold is met.[3]

Practitioners will of course be aware emotional abuse has a specific meaning. Working Together 2026 defines it as ‘persistent emotional or psychological maltreatment…causing severe and persistent adverse effects upon a child’s emotional development’. Examples include cyberbullying, causing a child frequently to feel frightened or endangered, and exploitation or corruption. Consequently, under the current safeguarding framework, it is likely a child having an Instagram account after Spring 2027 would not be an emotional harm in and of itself. A social worker would need to consider the child's age and development; what the child actually accesses; whether there is contact with unknown adults or exploitative peers; whether the child is experiencing cyberbullying, sexual, or criminal exploitation, whether the child is viewing self-harm material or eating-disorder content; whether there has been a measurable impact upon mental health, sleep, schooling, or behaviour; what the parents know about those risks; and what protective steps they take once concerns become apparent. However, the implementation of such steps by child protection professionals remains enshrouded in mystery whilst professionals await guidance from the Government.

There is, therefore, a clear absence of framework for how social media access in children will be treated from a child protection perspective from Spring 2027. The dangers are well documented with scholars, medical professionals, and social workers viewing social media access as a cause of significant harm for children emotionally and physically.

Of course, those involved with child protection and the family courts would need to consider the child's age and development; what the child actually accesses; whether there is contact with unknown adults or exploitative peers; whether the child is experiencing cyberbullying, sexual or criminal exploitation, self-harm material or eating-disorder content; whether there has been a measurable impact upon mental health, sleep, schooling or behaviour; what the parents know about those risks; and what protective steps they take once concerns become apparent. The position might look very different where a parent discovers that their 15-year-old has secretly circumvented an age check and takes reasonable steps to address it, compared with a parent who facilitates a child using a social media account despite knowing that a child is being bullied or exposed to material associated with serious deterioration in children’s mental health.

It is therefore imperative the Government provide guidance on how local authorities, charities, legal professionals, and all other child protection professionals should engage with children and their families where social media access is an issue. Whilst writing this article, the Government have indicated the ban will come into force in March 2027 with “a plan” to be put before Parliament by Christmas.[4]

[1] Skinner A and Foljambe R, ‘Debate: Social Media in Children and Young People – Time for a Ban? It Is Time to Take a Precautionary Approach. Why Health Professionals Are Calling for a Ban on Social Media for Under‐16s’ (2025) 30 Child and Adolescent Mental Health 419.

[2] UK Government (Working together to safeguard children 2026 a guide to multi-agency working, 2026) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69fb1c28d0e316a40f269a5b/Working_together_to_safeguard_children_2026_a_guide_to_multi_agency_working.pdf p.6

[3] Ibid, p.55

[4] Woodhouse J, ‘Proposals to Ban Social Media  for Children’ [2026] House of Commons Library